The centromere of chromosomes plays a crucial role in cell division. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, an international team of researchers led by the Leibniz Institute IPK has investigated how two crucial proteins—KNL2 ...
Three RIKEN researchers have shed light on the cellular mechanisms underlying chromosomal abnormalities that can cause miscarriages and congenital disorders such as Down syndrome.
The gene KINETOCHORE NULL2 (KNL2) plays a major role in the incorporation of the histone CenH3 into the centromere of chromosomes and is thus important for cell division. This same gene is also important for the production ...
Eggs and sperm are special cells for many reasons, but one of the characteristics that sets them apart is that unlike other human cells, which have two copies of 23 chromosomes, one from the mother and one from the father, ...
The exchange of DNA between chromosomes during the early formation of sperm and egg cells normally is limited to assure fertility.
Each of your cells contains two copies of 23 chromosomes, one inherited from your father and one from your mother. Theoretically, when you create a gamete—a sperm or an egg—each copy has a 50-50 shot at being passed on. But ...
Two recent Northwestern University studies shed new light on the mystery of the leading cause of birth defects and miscarriage, laying the foundation for further research in an understudied but crucially important field of ...
Meiosis is not like another: Gabriela Cabral and Peter Schlögelhofer at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna dived into the process of meiosis in specific ...
Most cells rely on structural tethers to position chromosomes in preparation for cell division. Not so oocytes. Instead, a powerful intracellular stream pushes chromosomes far-off the center in preparation for the highly ...
University of Pennsylvania biologists studying human reproduction have identified what is likely the major contributing factor to the maternal age-associated increase in aneuploidy, the term for an abnormal number of chromosomes ...
