Question

Three samples of cells from three different patients were unlabelled. One sample was from an 85-year-old man, one was from a 5-year-old boy, and one was from a person with skin cancer. How could you determine to which patient they belonged?

Answer 1

The 85 year old man will have shorter telomeres.

The 5 year old will have long telomeres.

The person with skin cancer will have an abnormal karyotype and abnormal nucleus shape and size during interphase.