Source: Adapted from C. A. Huether et al., Maternal age specific risk rate estimates for Down syndrome among live births in whites and other races from Ohio and Metropolitan Atlanta, 1970-1989, Journal of Medical Genetics 35: 482-90 (1998). Figure 8.20B Maternal age and incidence of Down syndrome
-You see a cell with several nuclei and you know that something is different about cell division. What is the most likely explanation?
A) failure of cytokinesis following mitosis
B) failure of sister chromatids to separate
C) nondisjunction
D) failure of homologous chromosomes to separate

Question

Source: Adapted from C. A. Huether et al., Maternal age specific risk rate estimates for Down syndrome among live births in whites and other races from Ohio and Metropolitan Atlanta, 1970-1989, Journal of Medical Genetics 35: 482-90 (1998). Figure 8.20B Maternal age and incidence of Down syndrome
-You see a cell with several nuclei and you know that something is different about cell division. What is the most likely explanation?
A) failure of cytokinesis following mitosis 
B) failure of sister chromatids to separate 
C) nondisjunction 
D) failure of homologous chromosomes to separate

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The presence of several nuclei in a single cell is most likely due to the failure of cytokinesis following mitosis. Cytokinesis is the process that divides the cell cytoplasm into two daughter cells after mitosis. If cytokinesis does not occur, the cell will have multiple nuclei but remain as one cell.