WHAT do left or right-handedness, schizophrenia and the asymmetry of our organs have in common? They could all be linked to the way chromosomes are apportioned between the cells in our body.
Textbooks say chromosomes duplicate prior to cell division, forming two identical sister chromatids. They are pulled apart when the cell divides in such a way that each daughter cell receives a random mixture of the newly synthesised chromosomes and the old chromosomes that acted as templates for the copies (see Diagram).
Not so, say Athanasios Armakolas and Amar Klar of the US National Cancer Institute at Frederick,…
