In particular, it explains that humans have one fewer chromosome pair in their cells than apes, due to a mutation found in chromosome number 2 that caused two chromosomes to fuse into one.

Three central players are (1) mitofusins (outer mitochondrial membrane fusion), (2) OPA1/Mgm1 (inner mitochondrial membrane fusion), and (3) Drp1/Dnm1 (division of outer and inner mitochondrial ...

"If we are searching for an instant that defined the human lineage," the study authors write, "we can state that the events ...

Thus, in her experiments, McClintock observed several fundamental properties of chromosome biology ... saw that telomeres prevent these kinds of fusion events from occurring.