Not having a center or lacking a centromere, particularly in biology referring to a chromosome without the structure that attaches to spindle fibers during cell division.
From 'a-' (not) + Greek 'kentron' (center). In genetics, it specifically describes chromosomes that cannot divide properly because they lack the crucial centromere structure.
Acentric chromosomes are effectively 'broken' from a cell division perspective—they can't attach to the spindle and get distributed to daughter cells, so they typically disappear, making them one of nature's evolutionary dead-ends at the microscopic level.
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