3 ms·
Male and female genotypes don't form a distribution, they are one or the other, modulo very rare transcription errors or mutations (which generally don't surviv
by wrycoder 5y ago
Male and female genotypes don't form a distribution, they are one or the other, modulo very rare transcription errors or mutations (which generally don't survive the first few cell divisions following fertilization).
So, talking about "bimodal" as if they were a combination of two normal distributions is not reflective of objective reality, since neither one is stochastic. There is no normal distribution of male genotype-ness, and no super male chromosome.
All X chromosomes differ from all other X chromosomes, but there are no half-X, half-Y chromosomes.
Because of this, in virtually all cases sex at birth is obvious to a medical practitioner. In questionable cases exhibiting abnormal genitalia we can, these days, do a quick DNA test to decide the matter. Wishful thinking is unnecessary.
And, yes, biology is absolutely fascinating.