Autosome

An autosome is a non-sex chromosome. It is an ordinarily paired^[1] type of chromosome that is the same in both sexes of a species. For example, in humans, there are 22 pairs of autosomes. The X and Y chromosomes are not autosomal. Non-autosomal chromosomes are usually referred to as sex chromosomes, allosomes or heterosomes.

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Notes

1. ^ In the case of higher ploidy levels than the usual diploid, there will be the same number of an autosome as the ploidy level itself. For example, in a pentaploid, there will be five copies of each autosome.

See also

• Autosomal dominant
• Autosomal recessive
• CODIS
• Homologous chromosome
• OmniPop

Classification: Autosome - Sex chromosome

Evolution: Chromosomal inversion - Chromosomal translocation - Polyploidy - Paleopolyploidy

Structure: Chromatin (Euchromatin, Heterochromatin) - Nucleosome - Histone (H1, H2A, H2B, H3, H4) - Centromere - Telomere - Chromatid