Abstract
IN preparations showing the first post-meiotic mitosis in pollen grains of two genera, Tradescantia and Hyacinthus, I find evidence of spontaneous structural changes in the chromosomes occurring with a high frequency. Some of these changes are of the kind that can be produced artificially by the action of X-rays on the post-meiotic resting stage. They depend on breaks and rejoins between chromosomes or chromatids, according to whether the changes occur before or after the chromosomes have split (Riley1, Mather unpub.). These breaks and rejoins lead to the formation of dicentric chromatids and acentric fragments (those having two or no centromeres or spindle attachment chromomeres respectively2). At anaphase and telophase the dicentric chromatids form bridges connecting the two daughter nuclei, while the fragments lie passively on the equator.
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References
Riley, H. P., Cytologia, 7, 131 (1936).
Darlington, C. D., ” Recent Advances in Cytology” (2nd ed., London, 1937).
Husted, L., Genetics, 21, 537 (1936).
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UPCOTT, M. Spontaneous Chromosome Changes in Pollen Grains. Nature 139, 153 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139153b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139153b0
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