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Human telomeric 6; 19 translocation chromosome with a tendency to break at the fusion point

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Abstract

The behavior of a translocation chromosome t(6; 19) in the lymphocytes of a mentally retarded woman with other anomalies has been analyzed. The two chromosomes were attached at the telomeres of their short arms without any apparent deletion. The centromere of chromosome 19 was marked by a primary constriction and the site of the centromere of chromosome 6 by a C-band, but no constriction. The translocation chromosome showed two primary constrictions once in 8,800 metaphases, probably resulting from mitotic crossing-over. One or both chromatids of the translocation chromosome were broken at the attachment point with a frequency of 1/733 cells. In addition, the chromosome was often bent at this point and the translocated chromosomes 19 and 6 showed a differential spiralization. In this characteristic as well as the weakness of the fusion point, this chromosome differed from other translocations; the fusion obviously was not as firm as in translocations in general. The broken-off chromosome 6 did not regain a primary constriction, but had the appearance of a large acentric fragment. The segregation of the translocation chromosome and the fragment gave rise to a complicated mosaicism with various levels of ploidy for the fragment lacking a functional centromere. The data are in quantitative agreement with the equilibrium expectations under the assumption that each fragment goes to either pole at random in mitosis and that cells divide at the same rate regardless of ploidy. The high rate of nondisjunction of the fragment showed that the inactivated centromere of the translocation chromosome did not regain its activity when chromosome 19 with the functional centromere became separated from it. — The fragility and the behavior of the translocation chromosome and the production of telomeric associations are briefly discussed.

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Drets, M.E., Therman, E. Human telomeric 6; 19 translocation chromosome with a tendency to break at the fusion point. Chromosoma 88, 139–144 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00327334

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00327334

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