title: Genomic instability: Crossing pathways at the origin of structural and numerical chromosome changes.
abstract: Genomic instability leads to a wide spectrum of genetic changes, including single nucleotide mutations, structural chromosome alterations, and numerical chromosome changes. The accepted view on how these events are generated predicts that separate cellular mechanisms and genetic events explain the occurrence of these types of genetic variation. Recently, new findings have shed light on the complexity of the mechanisms leading to structural and numerical chromosome aberrations, their intertwining pathways, and their dynamic evolution, in somatic as well as in germ cells. In this review, we present a critical analysis of these recent discoveries in this area, with the aim to contribute to a deeper knowledge of the molecular networks leading to adverse outcomes in humans following exposure to environmental factors. The review illustrates how several technological advances, including DNA sequencing methods, bioinformatics, and live-cell imaging approaches, have contributed to produce a renewed concept of the mechanisms causing genomic instability. Special attention is also given to the specific pathways causing genomic instability in mammalian germ cells. Remarkably, the same scenario emerged from some pioneering studies published in the 1980s to 1990s, when the evolution of polyploidy, the chromosomal effects of spindle poisons, the fate of micronuclei, were intuitively proposed to share mechanisms and pathways. Thus, an old working hypothesis has eventually found proper validation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Toxicology, Unit of Radiation Biology and Human Health, ENEA CR Casaccia, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pacchierotti
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cimini
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Neil J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Ganem
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Genescà
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy.
authors.forename: Adayapalam T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Natarajan
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, Unit of Occupational Medicine, University of Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pavanello
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Valle
authors.affiliation: IBPM, Institute of Molecular Biology and Pathology, CNR, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Degrassi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D002877:Chromosomes, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D004249:DNA Damage; D004261:DNA Replication; D042822:Genomic Instability; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008938:Mitosis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology
keywords: aneuploidy; chromosome aberrations; germ cells; next generation sequencing; telomeres