“…A mechanistically attractive model suggests that B chromosomes represent the small reciprocal products of Robertsonian translocations. Consistent with this hypothesis is the presence of small, monocentric, supernumerary chromosomes in association with Robertsonian chromosomes in humans (Sordo et al, 1983;Abeliovich et al, 1985;Howard and Fielding, 1987) and cattle (Miyake et al, 1994) and the occurrence of B chromosomes in the Robertsonian-derived karyotypes of various rodents and other mammals (Patton, 1977;Volobujev, 1981;Wurster-Hill et al, 1986;Civitelli et al, 1989;Borowik and Engstrom, 1993;Peppers et al, 1997). A second model hypothesizes the origin of B chromosomes as a result of duplication, most likely as polysomy of small autosomes or as isochromosomes of the X chromosome (Patton, 1977).…”