The Human Y Chromosome: Rumors of Its Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Recent papers by David Page and his collaborators present an intriguing new face to the human Y chromosome, including eight massive palindromic arrays, most of which contain multi-copy pairs of testis-specific genes. Sequence pairs within the arms of these palindromic sequences retain a high degree of similarity, suggesting that intrachromosomal gene conversion is frequent, perhaps providing a means of maintaining the integrity of individual members of the array.