Uniparental disomy: Origin, frequency, and clinical significance

Uniparental disomy (UPD) is defined as two copies of a whole chromosome derived from the same parent. There can be multiple mechanisms that lead to UPD; these are reviewed in the context of contemporary views on the mechanism leading to aneuploidy. Recent studies indicate that UPD is rare in an apparently healthy population and also rare in spontaneous abortion tissues. The most common type of UPD is a maternal heterodisomy (both maternal allele sets present). Isodisomy (a duplicated single set of alleles) or segmental loss of heterozygosity is sometimes encountered in SNP-based microarray referrals. Decisions regarding the most appropriate follow-up testing should consider the possibility of consanguinity (that will generally involve multiple regions), an imprinted gene disorder (chromosomes 6, 7, 11, 14, 15, 20), expression of an autosomal recessive disorder, and an occult aneuploid cell line that may be confined to the placenta. Upd(16)mat, per se, does not appear to be associated with an abnormal phenotype. UPD provides an insight into the history of early chromosome segregation error and understanding the rates and fate of these events are of key importance in the provision of fertility management and prenatal healthcare.