Are all chromosomes equally susceptible to mutation?

Question

The humans have been around for a few million years, other organisms longer yet. Changes that occur in the genome and propagate (may) eventually throw a new species ... or atleast branch off the old one. Are there any chromosomes out there that may be more susceptible to mutation than their neighbours?

Answer 1

If you are asking about human chromosomes, there is not any particular chromosome in our genome that is more susceptible to a gene mutation. Some chromosomes are larger and therefore contain more genes, so you could reason that those larger chromosomes may be subject to mutation more often just because they are more genes.

As far as other organisms, plants are much more likely to experience a change in number of chromosomes as they reproduce--i.e. changing from a diploid organism to a triploid or more, to due nondisjunction during meiosis. They are also more likely to experience polyploidy. This results in more variation among plants and plant species.