生物谷报道：随着人类基因精确测序的完成，并不象以前想象那样，人类的基因组便真相大白；相反，信息量越丰富时，反而遇到越来越多的问题和一些难以解释的现象。如先前的报道中基因组中的垃圾（如内含子）发现了许多重要的基因，表明人类的基因组具有高度的复杂性。而有关Y染色体的研究最近十分热门，不仅发现Y染色体不象以前争议的那样，Y染色体会随着进化，慢慢消失（因为Y染色体上的基因十分有限，大量基因在进化过程中退化了），但Y染色体的多态性十分复杂。同时在一些与人类高等生物相差甚远的动植物体内也发现了类似Y染色体，这更令人疑惑，Y染色体真的还具有其它的功能呢？
Y染色体对决定人类雄性性别起到关键作用，它的序列具有重复性，因而很难形成序列。刚刚发表的一篇报道令人吃惊，研究发现许多未知的区域，这个区域有八个序列是新的基因！表明，在Y染色体中含有隐藏序列，这些特殊序列决定人类的身高及和健康情况！这一发现，打破了Y染色体经常被人认为是含有相对较少的遗传信息，而且最近的研究认为它可能比预测的功能要多。
There's more to the Y chromosome than we thought.
全文参见：
Y chromosome reveals hidden sequence
Roxanne Khamsi
Extra genes may determine men's height and health.
The Y chromosome is often viewed as relatively empty of genetic information, but a recent analysis suggests it could have a more important function than many suspected.
The chromosome plays a crucial role in determining male sex in humans. The DNA that makes up the chromosome is highly repetitive, making it very difficult to sequence. But in June 2003, researchers in the United States announced that they had done so, and had found 78 genes, including several involved in sperm production.
Now, however, scientists at the University of Heidelberg in Germany have given it another go and found a region of the chromosome that originally went undetected.
When they initially compared the physical map of the chromosome with the cloned sequence, the sequence didn't seem to be long enough, explains team member Gudrun Rappold. "So we took the effort to sort out what was going on."
Uncharted territory
The new section spans just over half a million base pairs of DNA. "I was very surprised," says Rappold. "That's about 2% of the chromosome that was not detected before." Her team reports the result in Genome Research.
The region contains eight sequences that appear to be new genes. "We have to check if they are functional," cautions Rappold. But after comparing these sequences with others, she speculates that they may be involved in determining men's height, and may also provide clues about cancers of male sex organs.
