Yet another breakthrough in chicken genetic research has revealed that the mammalian X chromosome and it's chicken counterpart, the Z chromosome, have some very similar characteristics despite having evolved independently.

As we know, female mammals have two X chromosomes whereas males have one X and one Y. Chicken females on the other hand, have a Z and a W chromosome where males have a set of Z's.

All this is relevant because the X and Z chromosome was previously thought to be an unchanging genetic 'fossil' where the Y or W chromosome was the more recent evolutionary novelty.

However, the results from this study published in Nature seems to indicate that the evolutionary force surrounding sperm production in both species resulted in the independent evolution of similarly functioning sex chromosomes, which both differ from that of our common evolutionary ancestors.

Despite this incredible finding, human/chicken copulation remains illegal in most states.

The paper was published as a collaboration between MIT and Washington University.

Tags: chickens, Z chromosome, X chromosome, parallel evolution, ,

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