X chromosome

See also: X-chromosome

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Named by Hermann Henking in 1890 from x (signifying the unknown) due to some baffling properties he had observed. The brief resemblance in the appearance of the X and Y chromosomes to the letters "X" and "Y" respectively during cell division is entirely coincidental.[1]

Noun

X chromosome (plural X chromosomes)

  1. (genetics) A mammalian sex chromosome. Cells of females have a pair of X chromosomes while cells of males have an X and a Y.

Translations

References
  1. David Bainbridge, The X in Sex: How the X Chromosome Controls Our Lives, pages 65-66, →ISBN.
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