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The X-chromosome is the largest of all the human chromosomes.
Women have two X-chromosomes just like all the other 45 pairs.
Every chromosome comes paired with another chromosome of the same type except in the case of males.
Unlike Women, males have 45 matching pairs and one unmatched pair. The X-chromosome in males is paired with a tiny y-chromosome.
It is believed that the y-chromosome was once an X but it has mutated over millions of years to its present degraded state.
In males the X chromosome cannot function as it does in Females. This is because when normal chromosomes share genetic (thousands of genes) information with their counerparts, various mechanisms are activated in the sharing process. Because the male X does not share more than a couple of genes with the y, it too is crippled. The process of genetic 'imprinting' has shown that the Maternal X chromosome differs from the paternal X significantly. Research is still going on and no doubt will reveal the greater genetic endowment of Women.
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