Abstract
THE different distribution of rod and ring bivalents found by Mr. Fyfe in Silene is a clear and hitherto unnoticed example of the principle of repulsion-equilibrium in the formation of the metaphase plate. This effect evidently depends on the numbers of chromosomes, on the equality of their sizes combined with the variation in the number of their chiasmata, and on a certain size-relationship of chromosomes and spindle. Less conclusive evidence of the same distribution is to be found in my figures of Primula sinensis1, Campanula persicifolia and diploid Tradescantia. In the last case the body-repulsions assist in producing the differential effect. Where the chromosomes are more numerous, as in Aesculus2, the differential distribution is not clear without statistical treatment.
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References
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Upcott, J. Genetics; in the press.
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DARLINGTON, C. The External Forces Acting on Chromosomes. Nature 138, 366 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138366b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138366b0
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