In genetics, a mutation is any form of change which occurs in genetic material. An inversion mutation is a form of genetic mutation which occurs when a section of DNA breaks off and then reattaches in a reversed order to the chromosome.
When the break occurs in only one arm of the chromosome and the inverted segment does not include the area where the arms of the chromosome are attached to each other, referred to as the centromere, the inversion is said to be paracentric.
When the break happens between two arms of a chromosome and the inverted segment includes the area where the arms of the chromosome are attached to each other (the centromere), the inversion is said to be pericentric.
Not all inversion mutations result in abnormalities, provided the rearrangement is balanced and there is no extra or missing DNA. Some might even reorganise genetic code in a beneficial evolutionary way, but the pericentric inversion is more likely to lead to genetic abnormalities or lethal consequences.
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