Transmission of a fully functional human neocentromere through three generations

A fully functional human neocentromere has been transmitted through three generations. Neocentromeres can be normally transmitted at meiosis. An unusual Y chromosome with a primary constriction inside the long-arm heterochromatin was discovered in amniocytes of a woman aged 38. Since it was also found in her husband and brother-in-law, it was present in the father. The Y chromosome seems to have been deleted for part of the alphoid DNA, likely silencing the normal centromere. Neocentromere activation might have taken place first and brought on inactivation of the normal centromere through partial deletion.