Palindromic sequence

The meaning of palindrome in the context of genetics is slightly different from the definition used for words and sentences.

In 2008, a genome sequencing project discovered that large portions of the human X and Y chromosomes are arranged as palindromes.

[1] A palindromic structure allows the Y chromosome to repair itself by bending over at the middle if one side is damaged.

Their prevalence may also be related to the propensity of such sequences to form alpha helices[4] or protein/protein complexes.

Diversity of T cell receptor (TCR) genes is generated by nucleotide insertions upon V(D)J recombination from their germline-encoded V, D and J segments.