News release from the Life Science Centre, Newcastle University (UK):
Scientists are a step closer to understanding why older women are more likely to produce abnormal eggs, increasing the risk of infertility, miscarriage and birth defects, such as Down’s Syndrome.
The research has been carried out against the backdrop of dramatically increased cases of Down’s Syndrome pregnancy caused by the growing trend for women to postpone having babies until their late thirties and early forties.
While it has long been known that the increased risk of abnormalities in older women is due to eggs containing wrong number of chromosomes, the underlying causes have remained a mystery. Research published today in the journal Current Biology, sheds new light on why this happens.
The key is declining levels of proteins called Cohesins, which hold chromosomes together by entrapping them in a ring. This is essential for chromosomes to split evenly when cells divide.
Read on here for the full news report.
Citation (in Press)
Lisa Martine Lister, Anna Kouznetsova, Louise Ann Hyslop, Dimitrios Kalleas, Sarah Louise Pace, Jaclyn Catharina Barel, Abinaya Nathan, Vasileios Floros, Caroline Adelfalk, Yoshinori Watanabe, Rolf Jessberger, Thomas B. Kirkwood, Christer Höög, and Mary Herbert (2010) Age-Related Meiotic Segregation Errors in Mammalian Oocytes Are Preceded by Depletion of Cohesin and Sgo2, Current Biology, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.08.023
Published online 2 September 2010 - abstract is freely available, full text requires purchase.
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