Synonyms
Definition
All chromosomes except the sex chromosomes are referred to as autosomes. They exist in pairs in the somatic cells whereas singly in the gametic cells.
Introduction
Chromosomes can be categorized in two categories – autosomes and allososmes (sex chromosomes). All the chromosomes other than the sex chromosomes are autosomes. For example, in case of human diploid genome, 44 autosomes (22 pairs) are present along with 2 allosomes (a normal female will have a pair of X chromosome whereas a normal male will have a pair of X and Y chromosome). Autosomes have been numbered on the basis of their sizes from 1–22 in the human genome in contrast to the letters (X and Y) used for the allosomes. Genes located on these autosomes affect males and females in the same way (Ohno 2013). Another striking property of autosomes is that they are homomorphic, i.e., the position of the centromere is identical unlike the case of the male sex chromosome which...
References
Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K., & Walter, P. (2002). Molecular biology of the cell (4th ed.). London: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis.
Craig, J. M., & Bickmore, W. A. (1993). Genes and genomes: Chromosome bands–flavours to savour. Bioessays, 15, 349–354.
Niebuhr, E. (1978). The cri du chat syndrome. Human Genetics, 44, 227–275.
Ohno, S. (2013). Sex chromosomes and sex-linked genes (Vol. 1). Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media.
Therman, E., & Susman, M. (2012). Human chromosomes: Structure, behavior, and effects. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
Web References
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/inheritance/inheritancepatterns
Illustration: National Library of Medicine (US). (2017). Genetics home reference. Bethesda: The Library. Normal Human Karyotype; cited 2017 19 May. Available from: https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/illustrations/normalkaryotype.jpg.
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Neelabh (2017). Autosome. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_40-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_40-1
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