From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
Aneuploidy is a
chromosomal state in which
abnormal numbers of specific
chromosomes or chromosome sets
exist within the
nucleus.
A change in the number of
chromosomes leads to a
chromosomal disorder. These
changes can occur during the
formation of reproductive cells (eggs
and
sperm) or in early
fetal development. In
humans the most common form of
aneuploidy is trisomy, or
the presence of an extra
chromosome in each cell. Monosomy,
or the loss of one chromosome from
each cell, is another kind of
aneuploidy.
Aneuploidy is common in
cancerous cells.
Disomy
A disomy is the presence
of a pair of chromosomes, or the
normal amount for some organisms
including humans. It is not a
disorder, or aneuploid, but is the
absence of aneuploidism.
Trisomy
A trisomy is the
presence of three, instead of the
normal two,
chromosomes of a particular
numbered type in an organism. Thus
the presence of an extra
chromosome 21 is called trisomy
21. Most trisomies, like most
other abnormalities in chromosome
number, result in distinctive
birth defects. Many trisomies
result in miscarriage or death at
an early age.
A partial trisomy occurs
when part of an extra chromosome
is attached to one of the other
chromosomes. A mosaic trisomy
is a condition where extra
chromosomal material exists in
only some of the organism's cells.
While a trisomy can occur with
any chromosome, few babies survive
to birth with most trisomies. The
most common types that survive
without spontaneous abortion in
humans are:
Trisomy involving sex
chromosomes includes:
Sources
This article incorporates
public domain text from
The U.S. National Library of
Medicine.