Compensatory mechanisms in the satellite association patterns of individuals with Robertsonian translocations

摘要

The satellite association pattern was studied in 12 individuals from families with D/D, D/G and G/G translocations. The analyses comprised 50 cells from each individual. The intact homologues of chromosomes involved in the translocations had a higher tendency to satellite association than the other chromosomes of the same group (D or G). The chromosome types, not involved in the translocations, showed wide variation in their association tendency, no association pattern common to all of them being found. The intact homologues of the chromosomes involved in the translocations associate more frequently with each other than with other chromosomes. This tendency might be due not only to the high association tendency of the chromosomes involved but also to a specific preference of these chromosomes to associate with each other. These results suggest that a gene-dose-mechanism underlies the phenomenon of satellite association, and thus in fact gives functional aspect to this phenomenon.