heterogametic, a. Biol.
(ˌhɛtərəʊgəˈmiːtɪk)
[f. hetero- + gametic a.]
(Of a sex or its individual members) producing gametes that differ with respect to a sex chromosome. Opp. homogametic a. So ˌheteroˈgamety, the state or condition of being heterogametic.
| 1910 E. Wilson in Science Progress IV. ii. 572 If the two kinds of spermatozoa be designated as the ‘X-class’ and the ‘Y-class’, respectively, the eggs are all of the X-class. The male may, accordingly, be designated as the heterogametic sex, the female as the homogametic. 1932 Sinnott & Dunn Princ. Genet. (ed. 2) x. 215 Two kinds of sperm (male heterogamety) are formed in equal numbers, half with X, and half with Y. 1966 Amer. Naturalist C. 122 The fact that heterogametic males do occur suggests..that P. nubifer is probably in the process of changing from male to female heterogamety. 1971 [see homogametic a.]. 1971 Nature 18 June 432/2 In animals with female heterogamety, many authors refer to the chromosome which is present only in females as W and the paired sex chromosomes of males as ZZ. |