translocation in which the centromeres of two acrocentric chromosomes appear to have fused, forming an abnormal chromosome consisting of the long arms of two different chromosomes with loss of the short arms. A carrier of a balanced robertsonian translocation has only 45 chromosomes but near normal chromosomal complement and a clinically normal phenotype; however, he or she is at risk of having a child with unbalanced chromosomal complement. A person with an unbalanced robertsonian translocation is trisomic for the long arm of the chromosome. SYN: centric fusion. [W.R.B. Robertson, U.S. geneticist.]
