A Pair of Genomes is Best

People carry two sets of each chromosome, so our cells carry a pair of genomes; we are diploid. Researchers have now learned more about why a cell is destabilized by the presence of more or less than chromosome pairs. This work will help scientists understand the instability of chromosomes in cancer cells, which carry chromosomes with structural abnormalities, and irregular numbers of chromosomes.Most mammals have diploid cells with pairs of chromosomes. When cells are in a non-diploid state, the cell can become dysfunctional and unstable; it can cause abnormalities and disease, including cancer. An exception is cells that are involved in sexual reproduction; egg and sperm cells carry only one copy of the genome; they are haploid. Another exception is cancer, which can exist in the haploid or tetraploid state, in which they have four sets of chromosomes. When cells are not diploid, they are unstable, but it was not known why.For this work, the researchers used cells lines that were haploid, diploid, or tetraploid to look at how each cell type behaved as division occurred. Two centrosomes are important players in cell division, regulating the process https://goo.gl/qk4DLp