Short answerModerate1 mark
1(e)
State the exact location of the following structures:
Centromere
Topic: Location of the centromere
Previous-year question practice database
Answer
Exam answer
At the constricted point on a chromosome, BETWEEN THE TWO SISTER CHROMATIDS, joining them together.
Explanation
The centromere does two jobs: it HOLDS the chromatids together until anaphase, and it is the point to which the SPINDLE FIBRES attach in order to pull them apart.
ITS SPLITTING IS THE DEFINING EVENT OF ANAPHASE. Until that instant the two chromatids are one chromosome; the moment it divides they become two independent chromosomes.
Keep the three similar words apart: CENTROMERE is ON the chromosome; CENTRIOLES and the CENTROSOME are in the CYTOPLASM of an animal cell.
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