Discovery of tetraploidy in a mammal

GALLARDO, MH; BICKHAM, JW; HONEYCUTT, RL; RICARDO ALBERTO OJEDA; KOHLER, N

Nature

NATURE

Lugar: London; Año: 1999 vol. 401 p. 341 - 341

Polyploidy, or having more than a pair of each type of chromosome, is considered to be unlikely in mammals because it would disrupt the mechanism of dosage compensation that normally inactivates one X chromosome in females1. Also, any imbalance in chromosome number should affect the normal developmental processes and therefore constitute an evolutionary end, as in triploid humans2.