Abstract
THE mealy bug, P. citri, affords a unique opportunity for analysis of biochemical changes underlying chromosome behaviour. In the male embryos, the entire paternal set, that is, one half the total number of chromosomes, remains condensed in the non-dividing nuclei; this facultative behaviour is similar to that of typical heterochromatic elements such as sex chromosomes1,2. Experiments with tritiated thymidine show that, like heterochromatic elements in other organisms3,4, the paternal set in the males reproduces asynchronously from the maternal, or euchromatic, set5. As measured by dominant lethality2 and mutant genes6, the paternal set is genetically inert in the males, but some ‘residual’ influences can be demonstrated7,8.
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LOEWUS, M., BROWN, S. & MCLAREN, A. Base Ratios in DNA in Male and Female Pseudococcus citri. Nature 203, 104 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/203104a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/203104a0
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