I kind of suspected that but it's the first time I hear about it from scientists : if women live longer, it's likely because they are diploid, and men are not.
You see, diploidy gives genetic redundancy. If one gene is messed up on one chromosome, the same gene on the analog chromosome is likely ok though, so it will compensate. That's one advantage of diploidy and one of the reasons consanguinity is bad : if both chromosomes are identical, any mistake on them will not be compensated.
We, as men, only have one X chromosome. No redundancy whatsoever.
I suspect it's also one of the reasons most men are not physically attractive : their phenotype is more likely to show imperfections, especially regarding sexual characters (since we're talking about the sexual chromosome).
PS. I guess it's lifefuel for our Klinefelter syndrome brothers, though.
You see, diploidy gives genetic redundancy. If one gene is messed up on one chromosome, the same gene on the analog chromosome is likely ok though, so it will compensate. That's one advantage of diploidy and one of the reasons consanguinity is bad : if both chromosomes are identical, any mistake on them will not be compensated.
We, as men, only have one X chromosome. No redundancy whatsoever.
I suspect it's also one of the reasons most men are not physically attractive : their phenotype is more likely to show imperfections, especially regarding sexual characters (since we're talking about the sexual chromosome).
PS. I guess it's lifefuel for our Klinefelter syndrome brothers, though.
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