Mitotic Mistakes

What happens when things go wrong?

What is the big deal?

Although errors in mitosis are rare, the process may go wrong, especially during early cellular divisions in the zygote.

Mitotic errors can be especially dangerous to the organism because future offspring from this parent cell will carry the same disorder.

Different types of Errors

Non-DisjunctionDeletionTranslocationInversion

Deletion

Sometimes during mitosis the chromosomes can be damaged.

If the chromosome gets broken the fragments can be lost.

If this happens the genetic material they contain is deleted.

Translocation

If the chromosome breaks, it can reattach.

Sometimes it reattaches to the wrong chromosome.

This is called translocation

Inversion

When the fragment gets reattached it gets attached to the right chromosome but upside down.

When this happens it incorrected codes for information.

Non-Disjunction

When the sisters fail to separate.

One cell is given three copies (trisomy) of a chromosome while the other gets only one (monosomy).

These cells are called Aneuploidic, and they can cause cancer.

Aneuploidy

Most recognized forms of Aneuploidy are Downs Syndrome (Trisomy 21) and Edwards syndrome (Trisomy 18).

Different cells with abnormal amounts of chromosomes is called mosaicism.

Some forms of mosaicism can cause cancers of the white blood cells (luekemia).