Chromosome 21 is one of the 23 pairs of

chromosomes A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most importa ...

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

s. Chromosome 21 is both the smallest human

autosome An autosome is any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. The members of an autosome pair in a diploid cell have the same morphology, unlike those in allosomal (sex chromosome) pairs, which may have different structures. The DNA in autosomes ...

and

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

, with 46.7 million

base pair A base pair (bp) is a fundamental unit of double-stranded nucleic acids consisting of two nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. They form the building blocks of the DNA double helix and contribute to the folded structure of both DNA ...

s (the building material of

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

) representing about 1.5 percent of the total DNA in cells. Most people have two copies of chromosome 21, while those with three copies of chromosome 21 (trisomy 21) have Down syndrome. Researchers working on the

Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...

announced in May 2000 that they had determined the sequence of

s that make up this chromosome. Chromosome 21 was the second human chromosome to be fully sequenced, after

chromosome 22 Chromosome 22 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in human cells. Humans normally have two copies of chromosome 22 in each cell. Chromosome 22 is the second smallest human chromosome, spanning about 51 million DNA base pairs and representing b ...

Genes

Number of genes

The following are some of the gene count estimates of human chromosome 21. Because researchers use different approaches to genome annotation, their predictions of the

number of genes In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: prote ...

on each chromosome varies (for technical details, see

gene prediction In computational biology, gene prediction or gene finding refers to the process of identifying the regions of genomic DNA that encode genes. This includes protein-coding genes as well as RNA genes, but may also include prediction of other functio ...

). Among various projects, the collaborative consensus coding sequence project ( CCDS) takes an extremely conservative strategy. Thus CCDS's gene number prediction represents a lower bound on the total number of human protein-coding genes.

Gene list

The following is a partial list of genes on human chromosome 21. For complete list, see the link in the infobox at the top of the article. In addition, the chromosome has many genes for keratin-associated protein, with symbols: KRTAP6-1, KRTAP6-2, KRTAP6-3, KRTAP7-1, KRTAP8-1, KRTAP10-1, KRTAP10-2, KRTAP10-3, KRTAP10-4, KRTAP10-5, KRTAP10-6, KRTAP10-7, KRTAP10-8, KRTAP10-9, KRTAP10-10, KRTAP10-11, KRTAP10-12, KRTAP11-1, KRTAP12-1, KRTAP12-1, KRTAP12-2, KRTAP12-3, KRTAP12-4, KRTAP13-1, KRTAP13-2, KRTAP13-3, KRTAP13-4, KRTAP15-1, KRTAP19-1, KRTAP19-2, KRTAP19-3, KRTAP19-4, KRTAP19-5, KRTAP19-6, KRTAP19-7, KRTAP19-8, KRTAP20-1, KRTAP20-2, KRTAP20-3, KRTAP20-4, KRTAP21-1, KRTAP21-2, KRTAP21-3, KRTAP22-1, KRTAP22-2, KRTAP23-1, KRTAP24-1, KRTAP25-1, KRTAP26-1, KRTAP27-1.

Diseases and disorders

The following diseases and disorders are some of those related to genes on chromosome 21: *

Acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with haematopoiesis, normal blood cell production. Sympt ...

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...

Atrial fibrillation Atrial fibrillation (AF, AFib or A-fib) is an Heart arrhythmia, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) characterized by fibrillation, rapid and irregular beating of the Atrium (heart), atrial chambers of the heart. It often begins as short periods ...

, familial * Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 * Basal ganglia calcification * Bartsocas–Papas syndrome *

Bethlem myopathy Bethlem myopathy is predominantly an autosomal dominant myopathy, classified as a congenital form of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. There are two types of Bethlem myopathy, based on which type of collagen is affected. Bethlem myopathy 1 (BTHLM1) ...

Closed angle glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...

Cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens (anatomy), lens of the eye that leads to a visual impairment, decrease in vision of the eye. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colours, blurry or ...

* CHAND syndrome * Down syndrome *

Epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

* Erondu–Cymet syndrome * Ewing sarcoma * Galloway Mowat syndrome * Glucocorticoid deficiency *

Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

(susceptibility to) * Hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy * Holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency * Homocystinuria * Hyperhomocysteinemia * Hypotrichosis *

Immunodeficiency Immunodeficiency, also known as immunocompromise, is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious diseases and cancer is compromised or entirely absent. Most cases are acquired ("secondary") due to extrinsic factors that aff ...

Inflammatory bowel disease Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of inflammatory conditions of the colon and small intestine, with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC) being the principal types. Crohn's disease affects the small intestine and large intestine ...

* Intellectual developmental disorder * Jervell and Lange-Nielsen syndrome * Keppen–Lubinsky syndrome * Knobloch syndrome * Leukocyte adhesion deficiency-1 * Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II, or MOPD2) *

Non-small cell lung carcinoma Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), or non-small-cell lung carcinoma, is any type of epithelial lung cancer other than Small-cell carcinoma#Small-cell lung cancer, small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). NSCLC accounts for about 85% of all lung cancers. ...

Neurodevelopmental disorder Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of mental conditions negatively affecting the development of the nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord. According to the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manu ...

* Nonsyndromic deafness * Parkinson disease *

Peripheral neuropathy Peripheral neuropathy, often shortened to neuropathy, refers to damage or disease affecting the nerves. Damage to nerves may impair sensation, movement, gland function, and/or organ function depending on which nerve fibers are affected. Neuropa ...

* Phosphofructokinase deficiency *

Primary ciliary dyskinesia Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare, autosomal recessive genetic ciliopathy, that causes defects in the action of cilia lining the upper and lower respiratory tract, sinuses, Eustachian tube, middle ear, fallopian tube, and flagella of spe ...

Primary immunodeficiency Primary immunodeficiencies are disorders in which part of the body's immune system is missing or does not function normally. To be considered a ''primary'' immunodeficiency (PID), the immune deficiency must be inborn, not caused by secondary facto ...

Primitive neuroectodermal tumor Primitive neuroectodermal tumor is a malignant (cancerous) neural crest tumor. It is a rare tumor, usually occurring in children and young adults under 25 years of age. The overall 5 year survival rate is about 53%. It gets its name because the ...

Prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

* Romano–Ward syndrome * Spastic quadriplegia * Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy * Unverricht–Lundborg disease, a form of progressive myoclonus epilepsy * ZTTK syndrome

Chromosomal conditions

The following conditions are caused by changes in the structure or number of copies of chromosome 21: *

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

s: Rearrangements ( translocations) of genetic material between chromosome 21 and other chromosomes have been associated with several types of cancer. For example,

acute lymphoblastic leukemia Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer of the Lymphocyte, lymphoid line of blood cells characterized by the development of large numbers of lymphoblast, immature lymphocytes. Symptoms may include feeling tired, pale skin color, fever, ...

(a type of blood cancer most often diagnosed in childhood) has been associated with a translocation between chromosomes 12 and 21. Another form of leukemia,

acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with haematopoiesis, normal blood cell production. Sympt ...

, has been associated with a translocation between chromosomes 8 and 21. * In a small percentage of cases, Down syndrome is caused by a rearrangement of chromosomal material between chromosome 21 and another chromosome. As a result, a person has the usual two copies of chromosome 21, plus extra material from chromosome 21 attached to another chromosome. These cases are called translocation Down syndrome. Researchers believe that extra copies of genes on chromosome 21 disrupt the course of normal development, causing the characteristic features of Down syndrome and the increased risk of medical problems associated with this disorder. * Other changes in the number or structure of chromosome 21 can have a variety of effects, including

intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...

, delayed development, and characteristic facial features. In some cases, the signs and symptoms are similar to those of Down syndrome. Changes to chromosome 21 include a missing segment of the chromosome in each cell (partial monosomy 21) and a circular structure called ring chromosome 21. A ring chromosome occurs when both ends of a broken chromosome are reunited. * Duplication in

amyloid precursor protein Amyloid-beta precursor protein (APP) is an integral membrane protein expressed in many biological tissue, tissues and concentrated in the synapses of neurons. It functions as a cell surface receptor and has been implicated as a regulator of s ...

(APP) locus (duplicated segment varies in length but includes APP) on chromosome 21 was found to cause early onset familial

in a French family set and a Dutch family set. Compared to Alzheimer's caused by missense mutations in APP, the frequency of the Alzheimer's caused by APP duplications is significant. All patients that have an extra copy of APP gene due to the locus duplication show Alzheimer's with severe

cerebral amyloid angiopathy Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a form of angiopathy in which amyloid beta peptide deposits in the walls of small to medium blood vessels of the central nervous system and meninges. The term ''congophilic'' is sometimes used because the pres ...

Genes

Number of genes

Gene list

Diseases and disorders

Chromosomal conditions

Cytogenetic band

References

External links