Open AccessSatellite association in human metaphases. A comparative study of normal individuals, patients with Down syndrome and their parents
Author(s) -
HANSSON ALF
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
hereditas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1601-5223
pISSN - 0018-0661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1601-5223.1979.tb01294.x
Subject(s) - biology , down syndrome , demography , chromosome , association (psychology) , physiology , genetics , psychology , gene , sociology , psychotherapist
Satellite association (SA) was studied in lymphocyte cultures from normal individuals, patients with Down syndrome (DS) and parents, totally 455 individuals and 22,750 metaphases. SA tendency was low in children under 10 years both in controls and DS patients, increased at the age of 10 to 19 years, decreased in the controls aged 20 to 29 years, and again slightly increased in individuals over 30 years. A drastical decrease was found in females over 70 years. Sex differences in the SA patterns were few, except for the parents of DS, the mothers having a higher SA tendency, especially for chromosome 21, also compared with the control individuals. This increase was more prominent in mothers aged 20 to 29. The fathers of DS also, but not to the same extent, had higher SA tendency of chromosome 21, compared to the controls. The occurrence of paternal non‐disjunction may reflect this tendency. A mathematical model for associations with two acrocentrics showed, strikingly, that in the DS patients associations involving chromosome 21 were less frequent than expected. The results support the evidence that high SA tendency increases the risk of non‐disjunction. The human SA patterns are, however, polymorphic with complex background.