Abstract
IN a recent article in these columns1 and in a paper presented to the Royal Microscopical Society on February 20, 19352, I put forward a model of a chromosome as an aggregate of polypeptide protamine molecules in association with nucleic acid. It is unfortunate that data of a physico-chemical nature by means of which this hypothesis can be tested and rendered more precise are at present very meagre. It is, therefore, specially important to make the fullest use of such facts as are available, and in particular of those relating to the variable geometrical configurations of chromosomes, which are of the highest degree of delicacy and reliability3,4. These are of particular importance in view of the recent work on the giant chromosomes in the salivary glands of Drosophila, Chironomus and Sciara5. I have, therefore, undertaken a systematic survey of these data and wish, in this preliminary announcement, to direct the attention of cytologists to the various contractile factors which the chromosome micelle may be expected to possess.
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References
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WRINCH, D. The Contractile Factors of the Chromosome Micelle. Nature 135, 788–789 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135788b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135788b0
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