When did human chromosome 2 fuse?(2023)
Fluorescence hybridization image of human chromosomes in metaphase. The probe glowing red is one that binds to telomeric DNA. The chromosome in the zoomed inset is human chromosome 2, which has telomeric DNA near its center, the point where two ancestral chromosomes fused together. Image from Ijdo and coworkers (1991). Most living people have 23 pairs of chromosomes, as did our relatives known from ancient DNA, the Neandertals and Denisovans. All of our closest primate relatives—chimpanzees, bo