Chromosome aberrations

A walk through the Nucleus

Dr. Krishnaja A. P.

10-12-09
“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.”

When I would look at chromosome preparations through a microscope, I was often reminded of
Hsu`s words.
“No one gets much visual pleasure from a scintillation plot or a density gradient tracing. On the
other hand, microscopic objects, particularly chromosomes, are themselves objects of beauty,
analogous to the beauty of a Rembrandt.”
In the later years of my work at BARC, when working there was almost a torture, (courtesy, the
prevailing non productive, stifling, stagnant, hostile atmosphere, discouraging vengeful bosses,
withholding basic facilities like work space, telephone, computer, the sickening sycophancy, the
redundant hierarchy and protocol, the totally unfair system of evaluation and the injustice of all
that which prevents a person in scaling the heights of his / her profession), three things kept me
going: my love of the subject, inner motivation, and the verdant serene surroundings of BARC,
thanks to a great visionary, Dr. Homi Bhabha. In fact it was a joy every morning to enter the
gates of this hallowed institution, which I did invariably with a great feeling of being part of a
privileged few.

Normal Metaphase chromosome Spreads

Dicentric chromosomes
Dicentrics cont….
Ring chromosomes
Acentric chromosome fragments

Marker chromosome

Chromatid breaks and gaps

Chromatid exchanges

Pulverised chromosomes

Polyploidy
Endoreduplication

Haploidy

Endoreduplication

With this we come full circle. Hope you enjoyed the walk.
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