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Cell biology

Nondisjunction, aneuploidy and tetraploidy

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Abstract

Arising from: Q. Shi & R. W. King Nature 437, 1038–1042 (2005); Shi & King reply

One simple, widely accepted mechanism for generating an aberrant chromosome number, or aneuploidy, is through nondisjunction — a chromosome distribution error that occurs during mitosis when both copies of a duplicated chromosome are deposited into one daughter cell and none into the other. Shi and King1 challenge this view, concluding that nondisjunction does not yield aneuploid cells directly, but instead gives rise to tetraploid cells that may subsequently become aneuploid through further division. Here we show that the direct result of chromosome nondisjunction is gain or loss of a single chromosome, which results in near-diploid aneuploidy, not tetraploidy. We suggest that chromatin trapped in the cytokinetic cleavage furrow is the more likely reason for furrow regression and tetraploidization.

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Figure 1: Nondisjunction causes near-diploid aneuploidy, not cytokinesis failure, in primary cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0670, California, USA

    Beth A. A. Weaver, Alain D. Silk & Don W. Cleveland

Authors
  1. Beth A. A. Weaver
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  2. Alain D. Silk
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  3. Don W. Cleveland
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Correspondence to Don W. Cleveland.

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Weaver, B., Silk, A. & Cleveland, D. Nondisjunction, aneuploidy and tetraploidy. Nature 442, E9–E10 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05139

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