Meiotic crossing-over in nondisjoined chromosomes of children with trisomy 21 and a congenital heart defect.

We have used DNA polymorphisms to study meiotic crossovers of chromosome 21q in 27 nuclear families. Each family had a child with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect. Twenty DNA polymorphisms on chromosome 21 were used to determine parental and meiotic origin of nondisjunction and to identify crossovers. Twenty-four cases were of maternal origin, and three were of paternal origin. Twenty-two unequivocal crossover events were identified. Sixteen crossovers were observed in 22 chromosome pairs nondisjoining at the second meiotic division. Fifty percent of crossover events in MI nondisjunction are detectable by molecular genetic means. Thus, the results suggest that, in this sample, each nondisjoined chromosome 21 pair has been involved in at least one crossover event.     

Origin of the extra chromosome in trisomy 21

Summary Of 61 families of children with trisomy 21, polymorphism of chromosome 21 elucidating the origin of the extra chromosome was found in 42. Nondisjunction was of paternal origin in 8 cases (19.04%) and the anomaly occurred with equal frequency during the first and second meiotic divisions. Maternal nondisjunction was demonstrated in 34 cases (80.95%), in which nondisjunction occurred by far the most often during the first meiotic division (29 cases).These results are in agreement with data from the literature, and suggest the existence of at least two different causes for chromosomal nondisjunction, the first being the same in both sexes and occurring in both meiotic divisions and the second specifically limited to the first meiotic division in the mother.Attachée de Recherche au CNRSAttachée de Recherche à l'INSERM     

Comparative study of microsatellite and cytogenetic markers for detecting the origin of the nondisjoined chromosome 21 in Down syndrome

Nondisjunction in trisomy 21 has traditionally been studied by cytogenetic heteromorphisms. Those studies assumed no crossing-over on the short arm of chromosome 21. Recently, increased accuracy of detection of the origin of nondisjunction has been demonstrated by DNA polymorphism analysis. We describe a comparative study of cytogenetic heteromorphisms and seven PCR-based DNA polymorphisms for detecting the origin of the additional chromosome 21 in 68 cases of Down syndrome. The polymorphisms studied were the highly informative microsatellites at loci D21S215, D21S120, D21S192, IFNAR, D21S156, HMG14, and D21S171. The meiotic stage of nondisjunction was assigned on the basis of the pericentromeric markers D21S215, D21S120, and D21S192. Only unequivocal cytogenetic results were compared with the results of the DNA analysis. The parental and meiotic division origin could be determined in 51% of the cases by using the cytogenetic markers and in 88% of the cases by using the DNA markers. Although there were no discrepancies between the two scoring systems regarding parental origin, there were eight discrepancies regarding meiotic stage of nondisjunction. Our results raise the possibility of recombination between the two marker systems, particularly on the short arm.     

Reduced recombination and paternal age effect in Klinefelter syndrome

Summary The parental origin of the additional sex chromosome was studied in 47 cases with an XXY sex chromosome consitution. In 23 cases (49%), the error occurred during the first paternal meiotic division. Maternal origin of the additional chromosome was found in the remaining 24 cases (51%). Centromeric homo- versus heterozygosity could be determined in 18 out of the 24 maternally derived cases. According to the centromeric status and recombination rate, the nondisjunction was attributable in 9 cases (50%) to an error at the first maternal meiotic division, in 7 cases (39%) to an error at the second maternal meiotic division and in 2 cases (11%) to a nullo-chiasmata nondisjunction at meiosis II or to postzygotic mitotic error. No recombination, and in particular none in the pericentromeric region, was found in any of the 9 cases due to nondisjunction at the first maternal meiotic division. Significantly increased paternal age was found in the paternally derived cases. Maternal age was significantly higher in the maternally derived cases due to a meiotic I error compared with those due to a meiotic II error. There were no significant clinical differences between patients with respect to the origin of the additional X chromosome.     

Nondisjunction of chromosome 21: comparisons of cytogenetic and molecular studies of the meiotic stage and parent of origin.

In the present report, we summarize studies aimed at examining the reliability of chromosome heteromorphisms in analyses of chromosome 21 nondisjunction. We used two cytogenetic approaches--fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to repetitive sequences on 21p and traditional Q-banding--to distinguish chromosome 21 homologues and then compared the results of these studies with those obtained by DNA markers. Using a conservative scoring system for Q-banding and FISH heteromorphisms, we were able to specify the parental origin of trisomy in 10% of cases; in contrast, DNA marker studies were informative for parental origin in almost all cases. The results of the molecular and cytogenetic studies of parental origin concurred in all cases in which assignments were made independently using both techniques. However, in 4 of 13 cases in which the molecular studies contributed to the interpretation of the cytogenetic findings, the two results did not agree with respect to the meiotic stage of nondisjunction. A relatively high frequency of crossing-over on either the short arm or proximal long arm of chromosome 21 could explain these results and may be a mechanism leading to nondisjunction.     

A Somatic Origin of Homologous Robertsonian Translocations and Isochromosomes

One t(14q14q), three t(15q15q), two t(21q21q), and two t(22q22q) nonmosaic, apparently balanced, de novo Robertsonian translocation cases were investigated with polymorphic markers to establish the origin of the translocated chromosomes. Four cases had results indicative of an isochromosome: one t(14q14q) case with mild mental retardation and maternal uniparental disomy (UPD) for chromosome 14, one t(15q15q) case with the Prader-Willi syndrome and UPD(15), a phenotypically normal carrier of t(22q22q) with maternal UPD(22), and a phenotypically normal t(21q21q) case of paternal UPD(21). All UPD cases showed complete homozygosity throughout the involved chromosome, which is supportive of a postmeiotic origin. In the remaining four cases, maternal and paternal inheritance of the involved chromosome was found, which unambiguously implies a somatic origin. One t(15q15q) female had a child with a ring chromosome 15, which was also of probable postmeiotic origin as recombination between grandparental haplotypes had occurred prior to ring formation. UPD might be expected to result from de novo Robertsonian translocations of meiotic origin; however, all de novo homologous translocation cases, so far reported, with UPD of chromosomes 14, 15, 21, or 22 have been isochromosomes. These data provide the first direct evidence that nonmosaic Robertsonian translocations, as well as isochromosomes, are commonly the result of a mitotic exchange.     

Isolation of chromosome-21-specific DNA probes and their use in the analysis of nondisjunction in Down syndrome

Summary Thirteen single-copy, chromosome-21-specific DNA probes were isolated from a recombinant library made from flow-sorted chromosome 21 DNA and regionally mapped using a panel of somatic cell hybrids. Five probes mapped in the 21q21-q22.1 region, six to the 21q22.1-qter region, and one to each of the regions 21q22.1-q22.2 and 21q22.3. Two of these probes, one of which maps in the critical region for Down syndrome, have recently been shown to be expressed at high levels in Down syndrome brain tissue (Stefani et al. 1988). Following preliminary screening for restriction fragment lenght polymorphisms (RFLPs), five polymorphisms were discovered with four of the chromosome 21 DNA probes. A frequent MspI polymorphism detected by one of the probes was used in conjunction with four previously described polymorphic chromosome 21 probes to analyse the origin of nondisjunction in 33 families with a child or fetus with trisomy 21. The parental origin of the additional chromosome 21 was determined in 12 cases: in 9 (75%) of these it was derived from the mother and in the other 3 cases (25%) it was of paternal origin. Cytogenetic analysis of Q-banding heteromorphisms was informative in three of five families tested, and in each case the RFLP results were confirmed. The meiotic stage of nondisjunction was defined with confidence in five families, the results being obtained with pericentromeric RFLP or cytogenetic markers. Recombination between two nondisjoined chromosomes was demonstrated in one family and is consistent with the view that a lack of recombination between chromosome 21 homologues or failure of their conjunction is not the invariable cause of trisomy 21.     

Understanding the mechanism(s) of mosaic trisomy 21 by using DNA polymorphism analysis.

In order to investigate the mechanism(s) underlying mosaicism for trisomy 21, we genotyped 17 families with mosaic trisomy 21 probands, using 28 PCR-detectable DNA polymorphic markers that map in the pericentromeric region and long arm of chromosome 21. The percentage of cells with trisomy 21 in the probands'' blood lymphocytes was 6%-94%. There were two classes of autoradiographic results: In class I, a "third allele" of lower intensity was detected in the proband''s DNA for at least two chromosome 21 markers. The interpretation of this result was that the proband had inherited three chromosomes 21 after meiotic nondisjunction (NDJ) (trisomy 21 zygote) and subsequently lost one because of mitotic (somatic) error, the lost chromosome 21 being that with the lowest-intensity polymorphic allele. The parental origin and the meiotic stage of NDJ could also be determined. In class II, a "third allele" was never detected. In these cases, the mosaicism probably occurred either by a postzygotic, mitotic error in a normal zygote that followed a normal meiosis (class IIA mechanism); by premeiotic, mitotic NDJ yielding an aneusomic zygote after meiosis, and subsequent mitotic loss (class IIB mechanism); or by a meiosis II error with lack of crossover in the preceding meiosis I, followed by mitotic loss after fertilization (class IIC mechanism). Among class II mechanisms, the most likely is mechanism IIA, while IIC is the least likely. There were 10 cases of class I and 7 cases of class II results.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A fragile X female with Down syndrome

Summary Clinical and cytogenetic aspects of a female infant with trisomy 21 and the fragile X [fra (X)] chromosome are reported. Most of the facial characteristics of the patient are those observed in Down syndrome, but some features such as long face with prominent forehead and lower jaw, and large ears are related to the fra (X) syndrome. The origin of an additional chromosome 21 may be ascribed to maternal first meiotic nondisjunction in our case. It has been suspected that female carriers of the fra (X) chromosome may be predisposed to meiotic nondisjunctional events. However, there is probably no relationship between the two chromosomal abnormalities in our case because of the maternal age at the delivery.     

Parental origin and meiotic stage of non-disjunction in 139 cases of trisomy 21

The parental origin and the meiotic stage of non-disjunction have been determined in 139 Down syndrome patients with regular trisomy 21 and in their parents through the analysis of DNA polymorphism. The meiotic error is maternal in 91.60% cases and paternal in 8.39% of cases. Of the maternal cases, 72.41% were due to meiosis I errors (MMI) and 27.58% were due to meiosis II errors (MMII). Of the paternal cases, 45.45% were due to meiosis I (PMI) and 54.54% were due to meiosis II (PMII). The mean maternal ages were 31.6 +/- 5.3 (+/- SD) years in errors from MMI, 32.3 +/- 6.4 years in errors from MMII, 31.4 +/- 4.6 years in errors from PMI and 29.5 +/- 2.7 years in errors from PMII. No significant statistical differences were observed between maternal and paternal errors, further supporting the presence of a constant chromosome 21 non-disjunction error type.     

Nondisjunction of human acrocentric chromosomes: studies of 432 trisomic fetuses and liveborns

The present report summarizes molecular studies on the parent and meiotic stage of origin of the additional chromosome in 432 fetuses or liveborns with an additional chromosome 13, 14, 15, 21, or 22. Our studies suggest that there is little variation in the origin of nondisjunction among the five acrocentric trisomies and that there is no association between the origin of nondisjunction and the likelihood of survival to term of the trisomic conceptus. The proportion of cases of paternal origin was similar among the five trisomies: 12% for trisomy 13, 17% for trisomy 14, 12% for trisomy 15, 9% for trisomy 21, and 11% for trisomy 22. The stage of nondisjunction was also similar among the five trisomies, with the majority of cases of maternal origin being due to nondisjunction at meiosis I, whereas for paternally derived cases, nondisjuction occurred primarily at meiosis II.     

Parental origin of the extra chromosome in Down's syndrome

Summary Chromosome 21 fluorescent heteromorphisms were studied in 42 patients with Down's syndrome, their parents and their siblings. Included in this number are two instances of an aunt and niece affected with trisomy 21, and one of affected siblings. One case has a de novo 21/21 translocation. Blood group, red cell and serum protein markers were also studied for linkage, gene exclusions, associations, and paternity testing. Thirty-one of the trisomy 21 cases were informative for parental origin of the extra chromosome and for stage of meiosis. The non-disjunctional event was of maternal origin in 24; 23 occurred in meiosis I, 1 in meiosis II. Seven were of paternal origin; 5 in meiosis I, and 2 in meiosis II. The translocation case was of paternal origin. A literature search revealed a total of 98 cases informative for the parent of origin of the extra chromosome, of >347 families tested. In addition, 3 de novo translocation cases, of 7 tested, were informative. The data suggest that most cases result from an error in the first meiotic division in the mother, but that a significant proportion are paternal in origin.     

A 48,XXY,+21 Down syndrome patient with additional paternal X and maternal 21

Summary The origin of meiotic nondisjunction of the extra chromosomes X and 21 was studied in a patient with the karyotype 48,XXY,+21 using DNA polymorphisms. The extra chromosome X was the result of paternal first meiotic nondisjunction of X and Y. The extra chromosome 21 was derived from the mother. The meiotic error in the mother most probably occurred in meiosis II. Thus, this is a combination caused by the chance occurrence of two independent events.     

Analysis of DNA polymorphisms suggests that most de novo dup(21q) chromosomes in patients with Down syndrome are isochromosomes and not translocations.

Down syndrome is rarely due to a de novo duplication of chromosome 21 [dup(21q)]. To investigate the origin of the dup(21q) and the nature of this chromosome, we used DNA polymorphisms in 10 families with Down syndrome due to de novo dup(21q). The origin of the extra chromosome 21q was maternal in six cases and paternal in four cases. Furthermore, the majority (eight of 10) of dup(21q) chromosomes were isochromosomes i(21q) (four were paternal in origin, and four were maternal in origin); however, in two of 10 families the dup(21q) chromosome appeared to be the result of a Robertsonian translocation t(21q;21q) (maternal in origin in both cases).     

Nucleolar organizer region heteromorphism associated with trisomy-21: a risk factor for non-disjunction?

An unusual nucleolar organizer region (double NOR) on chromosome 13 was observed in a Down syndrome child [47, XY, +21, dNOR(13)]. The variant chromosome was inherited from the mother [46, XX, dNOR(13)]. The extra chromosome 21 in the proband was maternal origin. The frequency of NOR chromosome association showed relatively high frequency in the mother and proband as compared to the controls. The result suggest that chromosome variants involving extra copies of NOR may indeed be involved in the meiotic nondisjunction of chromosome-21.     

Unbalanced reciprocal translocations in cases of Prader-Willi syndrome

Summary A case of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) associated with a de novo unbalanced 15q;17q reciprocal translocation presumptively resulting from the tertiary monosomic form of 3:1 meiotic disjunction is described. Twenty-three similar unbalanced translocations have been identified from the literature. The 24 karyotypes are characterised by having 45 chromosomes, monosomy for the pericentromeric region of chromosome 15 (range pter»q11 to q21), and little monosomy of the recipient (non-15) chromosome. Two-thirds of the cases with these karyotypes have phenotypic features of PWS. It seems probable that (i) where unbalanced reciprocal translocations are associated with PWS, they will almost invariably be presumptive segregants of the tertiary monosomic form of 3:1 disjunction and (ii) the majority of cases found with this type of karyotype, particularly it appears when de novo in origin, will be associated with phenotypic features of PWS.     

Trisomy 18: studies of the parent and cell division of origin and the effect of aberrant recombination on nondisjunction.

We have studied the mechanism of origin of 63 cases of trisomy 18. In 2 the additional chromosome was paternal in origin, and in the remaining 61 it was maternal in origin. Both paternal cases were attributable to a postzygotic mitotic (PZM) error. Among the 54 maternal cases for which the cell division of error was established, only 16 were attributable to an error at the first meiotic division (mat MI), whereas no fewer than 35 were due to an error at the second meiotic division (mat MII), the remaining 3 being the result of a PZM error involving the maternal chromosome 18. A standard map of chromosome 18 was constructed and compared with the nondisjunctional map. Approximately one-third of the mat MI errors were associated with complete absence of recombination, whereas in the remaining two-thirds and in all the mat MII errors recombination in the nondisjoined chromosomes appeared to be normal. All the maternal errors were associated with an increased maternal age, although this reached significance only for the mat MII category of nondisjunction. Our observations on chromosome 18 are compared with those on other chromosomes for which there are comparable data.     

Distribution of meiotic recombination along nondisjunction chromosomes 21 in Down syndrome determined using cytogenetics and RFLP haplotyping

Summary Ten families (Down syndrome children and their parents) showing evidence of meiotic recombination between intraparental chromosomes transmitted after nondisjunction were studied. Cytogenetic polymorphisms and a cassette of RFLP markers distributed along chromosome 21 were used to analyze these families to localize the regions of meiotic recombination. Results indicated that only one crossover occurred per meiotic division and that nine of ten nondisjunctions appeared to be of maternal origin. In one family the crossover had taken place in the pericentromeric region, proximal to marker D21S13, which is quite exceptional. A chance of meiotic recombination within region 21q21, flanked by marker D21S72 and the amyloid gene, could be demonstrated in seven of the ten families. Most strikingly, this chance significantly decreased distal to q21, with frequencies of 0.3 and 0.1 in regions q22.2 and q22.3-qter, respectively. It is hypothesized that decreased chiasmata formation in the most distal part of chromosome 21q might promote nondisjunction. Furthermore, data from the ten crossovers made it possible to map provisionally two previously undefined markers, D21S24 and D21S82, to regions q21-qter and q22.1-qter, respectively.     

The probability of detecting the origin of nondisjunction of autosomal trisomies.

For studying the biology of autosomal trisomies it is necessary to establish the parental origin and meiotic stage of nondisjunction by using genetic markers. Theoretical formulas are obtained for calculating the probability of establishing (1) parental origin and meiotic stage of nondisjunction by using a centromeric marker, (2) parental origin of nondisjunction by using a noncentromeric marker, and (3) meiotic stage, given parental origin of nondisjunction. These theoretical calculations demonstrate that parental origin of nondisjunction can be identified with virtual certainty by utilizing multiple genetic markers along a chromosome arm. Centromeric markers are by themselves inefficient for determining meiotic stage of the error, but the efficiency can be considerably increased if parental origin is known with certainty. Even then, multiple centromeric markers may be necessary.     

Presence of an extra chromosome alters meiotic double-stranded break repair dynamics and MLH1 foci distribution in human oocytes

Studies performed on human trisomic 21 oocytes have revealed that during meiosis, the three homologues 21 synapse and, in some cases, achieve what looks like a trivalent. This implies that meiotic recombination takes place among the three homologous chromosomes 21, and to some extent, crossovers form between them. To see how meiotic recombination is in the presence of an extra chromosome 21, we analyzed the distribution of three recombination markers (γH2AX, RPA, and MLH1) on trisomic 21 oocytes at pachynema and, in particular, on chromosomes 21. Results clearly show how the presence of an extra chromosome 21 alters meiotic recombination progression, leading to the presence of a higher number of early recombination markers at pachynema. Moreover, the distribution on these chromosomes 21 of some of these markers is different in aneuploid oocytes. Finally, there is a substantial increase in the number of MLH1 foci, a marker of most crossovers in mammals, which is related to the number of synapsed chromosomes in pachynema. Thus, bivalents 21 had fewer MLH1 foci than partial or total trivalents, suggesting a close relationship between synapsis and crossover designation. All of the data presented suggest that the presence of an extra chromosome alters meiotic recombination globally in aneuploid human oocytes.