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Week 4: Explaining autism: mind and brain

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This diagram shows the effect of crossing over on the arrangement of genetic material along chromosomes, shown across three generations. At the top of the diagram, two pairs of chromosomes are shown. The first pair is labelled 'grandmother' and these are coloured in yellow and red. The second pair is labelled 'grandfather' and these are white and blue. An arrow indicates these chromosomes are passed down to the next generation. A pair of chromosomes labelled 'mother' show that natural breakages have passed down a mix of genetic material from the grandparents. As a result, one of the mother's chromosomes is coloured in a mix of yellow and red, and the other is a mix of blue and white. The third generation labelled 'child' then shows one chromosome, inherited from the mother. It is a mix of all four colours from the grandparental chromosomes, thus showing how a grandchild inherits a mix of genetic material from both grandparents.