Kaufmann, Berwind Petersen (1936) Chromosome structure in relation to the chromosome cycle. Botanical Review, 2 (11). pp. 529-553.
Abstract
The observational and experimental evidence reviewed here indicates that the chromonema is a fundamental and permanent component of the chromosome. As a structure persistent through the mitotic cycle, it provides a mechanism for the maintenance of the linear order of the genes, its chromomeric organization furnishing morphological evidence of its linear differentiation. Other theories of chromosome structure, which regard the chromonema as transitory in the mitotic cycle, are inadequate in light of present knowledge of chromosome behavior and genetical function With respect to the number of chromonemata per chromosome, the bulk of evidence favors the interpretation that the somatic metaphase chromosome is 4-partite, and that the bivalent of the first meiotic metaphase is 8-partite. The chromonemata of such somatic chromosomes are coiled in minor spirals, those of the meiotic bivalent in both major and minor spirals. Relatively little is known of the behavior and rôle of the achromatic matrix material with which the contracted chromonemata usually are associated. Studies of chromosome structure during meiosis have been made primarily on the metaphase bivalents, when the chromonemata are defined most clearly. An accurate knowledge of the organization of prophase chromosomes is essential, however, to critical analysis of such phenomena as synapsis, chiasma formation and crossingover. In several of the recent studies, efforts have been made to trace the chromonemata through the first meiotic division, but evidence on the structure of leptotene and pre-leptotene chromosomes remains meagre. Additional cytological investigations of these stages will furnish a more substantial basis than now exists for such speculations concerning chromosome mechanics as are indicated in the preceding section of this paper.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > chromosome bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > chromosomes, structure and function > chromosome bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > chromosomes, structure and function |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | The Carnegie Institution Department of Genetics |
| Depositing User: | Matt Covey |
| Date: | 1936 |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Jan 2018 17:56 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Jan 2018 17:56 |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/35885 |
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