Abstract
THE purpose of this letter is to suggest that the use of the word ‘heterochromatin’ in cytological and genetical literature is undesirable. The word was introduced by Heitz1,2 to indicate those Chromosomenstücke and whole chromosomes that do not undergo telophase transformation and therefore remain condensed throughout interphase and prophase. The later work on this subject, particularly that showing the differential reaction of the heterochromatic parts of chromosomes to culture at low temperature3–8, has been of great interest and importance, and we want to criticize the name only and not the associated subject-matter.
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References
Heitz, E., Jahrb. wiss. Bot., 69, 762 (1928).
Heitz, E., Z. indukt. Abstamm. u. Vererb.-Lehre, 70, 402 (1935).
Darlington, C. D., and La Cour, L., Ann. Bot., Lond., N.S. 2, 2, 615 (1938).
Darlington, C. D., and La Cour, L., J. Genet., 40, 185 (1940).
Darlington, C. D., and La Cour, L., J. Hered., 32, 115 (1941).
Wilson, G. B., and Boothroyd, E. R., Canad. J. Research, C., 19, 400 (1941).
Wilson, G. B., and Boothroyd, E. R., Canad. J. Research, C., 22, 105 (1944).
Callan, G. H., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 130, 324 (1942).
Schultz, J., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 22, 27 (1936).
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BAKER, J., CALLAN, H. ‘Heterochromatin’. Nature 166, 227–228 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/166227b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/166227b0
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