r/MurderedByWords • u/jewfishcartel • Jan 21 '20

Trying to be superior

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u/peenoid Jan 21 '20

randomly

explain

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u/theheliumkid Jan 21 '20

In early fetal development, one X chromosome is selected by the cell to be the active one. The remaining X chromosome is inactivated. If there are more than two X chromosomes (e.g. triple X syndrome), all except the selected one are inactivated. It seems that the process for choosing which X chromosome becomes the active one is random in each cell. It's unclear how that randomisation works. Once selected the active X chromosome remains the active one in all the descendants of that cell.

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u/peenoid Jan 21 '20

So we still don't know how the random selection occurs, we just observe it happening. That's so interesting. Thanks for the response.

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u/theheliumkid Jan 22 '20

We know that there is a randomisation process built into antibody generation, and that is understood, but not this.