# Genetic closeness (gender vs Species) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetic-closeness-gender-vs-species/633904 "2012-09-06T20:20:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetic-closeness-gender-vs-species/633904/1 "2012-09-06T20:20:12Z")
Which pair is more genetically similar? Male Human and Female Human or Male Human and Male Chimpanzee. I realized I haven’t defined genetic closeness, but I will take answers for any reasonable definition there of. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetic-closeness-gender-vs-species/633904/2 "2012-09-06T20:50:30Z")
There’s absolutely no question. It’d be male and female humans. The only genetic material not shared between them is the Y chromosome. Everything else is identical. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetic-closeness-gender-vs-species/633904/3 "2012-09-06T20:54:35Z")
Males and females of the same species are going to be more closely related than either are to the same sex of another species, pretty much by definition (of “species”). Specifically, human males and females share 22 chromosome pairs in common, and differ in the 23rd chromosome pair (aptly referred to as the sex chromosomes). Humans and chimps, on the other hand, differ in at least 9 major chromosomal pairs (not least of which is the fact that all non-human great apes - including chimpanzees - have 24 chromosomal pairs to our 23), and several other minor gene differences, even among some shared genes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetic-closeness-gender-vs-species/633904/4 "2012-09-06T20:54:35Z")
The major genetic difference between a male human and a female human is that one of the chromosomes is completely different. But humans and chimps don’t even have the same number of chromosomes in the first place. Going from having a full-sized chromosome to an atrophied one is a smaller change than going from having two chromosomes to not having those two at all. So I’ll say the man and woman are more similar than the man and chimp. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetic-closeness-gender-vs-species/633904/5 "2012-09-06T21:15:34Z")
And the Y chromosome is a pretty small one. It’s almost the smallest, physically speaking, comprising 1.8% of all of your DNA. It doesn’t have many genes, somewhere around 100 (depending on your favorite gene definition…) out of 20,000 total. Those genes are entirely related to male sexual traits (sperm function, sexual development). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetic-closeness-gender-vs-species/633904/6 "2012-09-06T22:03:20Z")
> [@Darwins\_Finch](#): > > Males and females of the same species are going to be more closely related than either are to the same sex of another species, pretty much by definition (of “species”). > > Specifically, human males and females share 22 chromosome pairs in common, and differ in the 23rd chromosome pair (aptly referred to as the sex chromosomes). > > Humans and chimps, on the other hand, differ in at least 9 major chromosomal pairs (not least of which is the fact that all non-human great apes - including chimpanzees - have 24 chromosomal pairs to our 23), and several other minor gene differences, even among some shared genes. I would like to point out however that we are short a chromosome because two of our chromosomes fused into one as I recently learned. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genetic-closeness-gender-vs-species/633904/7 "2012-09-06T22:05:45Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > I would like to point out however that we are short a chromosome because two of our chromosomes fused into one as I recently learned. Two of “their” chromosomes fused into one of “ours”. 😉