Inversion (genetics)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In genetics, an inversion (from the Latin inversio , the reverse) is a specific change in a chromosome : a chromosomal section is rotated by 180 °, ie "inverted". Inversions occur when a chromosome breaks in two places ( DNA double-strand break ) and is put back together again, but the section between the two break points is incorporated in the reverse order. This reverses the order of the genes on this chromosome segment. Inversions are one of the chromosome mutations .

A distinction is made between pericentric inversions, in which the inverted segment includes the centromere , and paracentric inversions, in which this is not the case. Inversions can produce so-called balancer chromosomes , in which recombination is suppressed.

source

  • R. Wehner, W. Gehring: Zoologie, 23rd revised edition ; Georg-Thieme-Verlag Stuttgart, New York 1995, ISBN 3-13-367423-4