Sister chromatids: Definition from Answers.com

Sister chromatids are identical copies of a chromosome connected by a centromere. Compare sister chromatids to homologous chromosomes, which are the two different copies of the same chromosome that diploid organisms (like humans) inherit, one from each parent. In other words, sister chromatids contain the same genes and same alleles, and homologous chromosomes contain the same genes but two copies of alleles, each of which might or might not be the same as each other. A full set of sister chromatids is created during the S subphase of interphase, when all the DNA in a cell is replicated. Identical chromosome pairs are separated into two different cells during mitosis, or cellular division.

There is evidence that, in some species, sister chromatids are the preferred template for DNA repair. They are very strong and they split over again and again ^[1], found within the cell during meiosis.

References

^ Kadyk, Lc; Hartwell, Lh (Oct 1992). "Sister chromatids are preferred over homologs as substrates for recombinational repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae" (Free full text). Genetics 132 (2): 387–402. ISSN 0016-6731. PMID 1427035. PMC 1205144. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=1427035.

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