Submitted by TheBloxyBloxGuy t3_11mdtz4 in askscience
WantsToBeUnmade t1_jbl2fjj wrote
Reply to comment by actuallyserious650 in Is there a fertile creature with an odd number of chromosomes? by TheBloxyBloxGuy
In the creeping vole (Microtus oregoni) females are XO and males are XX. The offspring always get an X from their father, but their mother gives either an X or nothing.
This only works because their X chromosome carries some of the information that the Y carries in other species.
There is also a clever bit of coding that in most mammals causes less expression of the genes on the X chromosome in females (so that females don't have twice as many proteins running around their body.) And in creeping voles it only does so in males.
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