Sex linkage

Sex linkage describes the sex-specific patterns of inheritance and expression when a gene is present on a sex chromosome (allosome) rather than a non-sex chromosome (autosome). Genes situated on the X-chromosome are thus termed X-linked, and are transmitted by both males and females, while genes situated on the Y-chromosome are termed Y-linked, and are transmitted by males only. As human females possess two X-chromosomes and human males possess one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome, the phenotype of a sex-linked trait can differ between males and females due to the differential number of alleles (polymorphisms) possessed for a given gene. In humans, sex-linked patterns of inheritance are termed X-linked recessive, X-linked dominant and Y-linked. The inheritance and presentation of all three differ depending on the sex of both the parent and the child. This makes sex-linked patterns of inheritance characteristically different from autosomal dominance and recessiveness.[1] This article will discuss each of these patterns of inheritance, as well as diseases that commonly arise through these sex-linked patterns of inheritance. Variation in these inheritance patterns arising from aneuploidy of sex chromosomes, sex-linkage in non-human animals, and the history of the discovery of sex-linked inheritance are briefly introduced.

  1. ^ Kumar, Rahul; Gautam, Akash; Singh, Shashi Bala (2020), "Sex-Linked", in Vonk, Jennifer; Shackelford, Todd (eds.), Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–4, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_562-1, ISBN 978-3-319-47829-6, retrieved 10 March 2025
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