Abstract
I HAVE previously disavowed any deeply founded conviction concerning the name applied to the kinetic region which, in one form or another, seems to be present in most chromosomes. The first thing needful is agreement on such a name, and then the abandonment of the ten or more other names now in use. I proposed the adoption of the word, “kinetochore”, partly because it seems at least as good as any now in use and also because Sharp has employed it in a rather widely used book. But at about that time the term “centromere” was used by Darlington, and British workers have accepted it quite generally. I should like to point out that not only is thereby added another to the long series of words that already have caused much confusion (“centrosphere”, “centrodesmus”, “centrosome”, “centriole”, “central body”, etc.); but that the word “centromere” was coined by Waldeyer in 1903 to designate the neck region of the spermatozoon. Since it seems certain that many future investigations will concern themselves with the chromosome region in question, I propose that an entirely new name be adopted if the word kinetochore be considered unacceptable.
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SCHRADER, F. Kinetic Regions in Chromosomes. Nature 143, 122 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143122a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143122a0
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