Practice question

Pericentric inversion includes centromere within inverted interval, so breakpoints lie on opposite arms: one in short arm p and one in long arm q. Reorientation moves centromere position, altering arm ratio and possibly changing metacentric to submetacentric morphology. This change can be detected cytogenetically as altered p/q length. In heterozygotes, pairing forms inversion loop to align homologous sequences, and single crossover inside loop yields chromatids with duplication and deletion of terminal segments, leading to unbalanced gametes and risk for recombinant offspring with clinical abnormalities.