New insights into the troubles of aneuploidy.
Deviation from a balanced genome by either gain or loss of entire chromosomes is generally tolerated poorly in all eukaryotic systems studied to date. Errors in mitotic or meiotic cell division lead to aneuploidy, which places a burden of additional or insufficient gene products from the missegregated chromosomes on the daughter cells. The burden of aneuploidy often manifests itself as impaired fitness of individual cells and whole organisms, in which abnormal development is also characteristic. However, most human cancers, noted for their rapid growth, also display various levels of aneuploidy. Here we discuss the detrimental, potentially beneficial, and sometimes puzzling effects of aneuploidy on cellular and organismal fitness and tissue function as well as its role in diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration.
David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. jjsiegel@mit.edu
Jake J
JJ
Siegel
Angelika
A
Amon
D059786:Abnormal Karyotype; D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000782:Aneuploidy; D000818:Animals; D020090:Chromosome Segregation; D018628:Gene Dosage; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D008938:Mitosis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype