Molecular characterization of an inherited ring (19) demonstrating ring opening

Ring chromosomes arise following breakage in both chromosome arms and rejoining of the centric segment at the broken ends or by end-to-end fusion of the telomeres. The phenotype of ring carriers is unpredictable, and developmental abnormalities may occur even when the ring appears to be structurally balanced. This is believed to be due to mitotic instability from abnormal segregation and sister chromatid exchange in somatic cells. Although ring chromosomes usually arise as de novo events, transmittal from mosaic carriers to offspring sometimes occurs. In such cases, offspring with ring mosaicism in combination with a normal cell line remain unexplained. In this report, we used detailed molecular and cytogenetic analyses of a prenatally detected, inherited ring (19) to observe the behavior of the ring chromosome in culture, and to investigate the mechanism of inherited ring chromosome mosaicism. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.