Since the very beginning Cytogenetics, the science of chromosomes and chromosome complements (Sutton, 1903) originally represented the microscopic level of genetic knowledge. Chromosomes (term coined by Waldeyer, 1888) were observed during mitotic and meiotic divisions already in the second half of the 19th century. In the early days of chromosome research, when the chemical nature of chromosom...

Chromosomes must establish stable biorientation prior to anaphase to achieve faithful segregation during cell division. The detailed process by which chromosomes are bioriented and how biorientation is coordinated with spindle assembly and chromosome congression remain unclear. Here, we provide complete 3D kinetochore-tracking datasets throughout cell division by high-resolution imaging of meio...

Aneuploidy is a leading genetic cause of birth defects and lower implantation rates in humans. Most errors in chromosome number originate from oocytes. Aneuploidy in oocytes increases with advanced maternal age. Recent studies support the hypothesis that cohesion deterioration with advanced maternal age represents a leading cause of age-related aneuploidy. Cohesin generates cohesion, and is est...

X chromosome inactivation in female mammals results in dosage compensation of X-linked gene products between the sexes. In humans there is evidence that a substantial proportion of genes escape from silencing. We have carried out a large-scale analysis of gene expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines from four human populations to determine the extent to which escape from X chromosome inactivati...

A total of 592 cells was examined from 38 normal humans who had either small or very large Y chromosomes. Chromosome identification was based on the QFQ technique. The distance between the X and Y chromosome was measured from centromere to centromere. The spatial distance between X and Y was significantly smaller when the Y was small as compared to a very large Y (p less than 0.05). The distanc...

The Y chromosome and the mitochondrial genome have been used to estimate when the common patrilineal and matrilineal ancestors of humans lived. We sequenced the genomes of 69 males from nine populations, including two in which we find basal branches of the Y-chromosome tree. We identify ancient phylogenetic structure within African haplogroups and resolve a long-standing ambiguity deep within t...