Final answer:
A paracentric inversion, which occurs outside of the centromere, may produce an acentric chromosomal fragment during crossing-over in meiosis if an individual is heterozygous for this variation. Unlike pericentric inversions, paracentric inversions do not change the length of chromosome arms and can lead to acentric fragments due to abnormal recombination events.
Step-by-step explanation:
Chromosomal variations can have different consequences depending on the type and position of the alteration. Pericentric inversions include the centromere and can change the relative lengths of the chromosome arms. In contrast, paracentric inversions do not include the centromere and will not change the lengths of the chromosome arms. A pericentric inversion can potentially disrupt the function of a gene if it alters the position of regulatory sequences with respect to their target genes.
Deletions result in the loss of a segment of the chromosome, and duplications result in the repetition of a chromosome segment. Not every structural rearrangement leads to nonviable or infertile outcomes. For instance, a pericentric inversion in human chromosome 18 is said to have contributed to human evolution and is not found in our close genetic relatives, the chimpanzees.
In the context of this question, a paracentric inversion may lead to an acentric fragment (a fragment of a chromosome that lacks a centromere) during crossing-over in meiosis if an individual is heterozygous for this mutation. This occurs because, during pairing and recombination, the normal and inverted chromosomes form a loop structure that can lead to acentric fragments if crossover occurs within the inversion loop.