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The behaviour of chromosomal axes in Searle's X-autosome translocation

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Abstract

The sex vesicle-autosomal complex of mice heterozygous for Searle's X-autosome translocation has been reconstructed by serial sectioning and model building. The chromosomal axes of the five reconstructed models showed a characteristic pattern. The four axes present were identified as corresponding to: an unchanged autosome (A1), the Y chromosome (Y) and the two translocation products, Xt, that has the X centromere, and A2t that has an autosomal centromere. The axes of these translocated chromosomes have a mixed path, inside the sex vesicle and autosomal chromatin. The axes pair among themselves according to a pattern which agrees with that predicted by Ford and Evans (1964). It has been shown that the pairing region of the X chromosome of mice is the distal region and that the nucleolus is attached near its centromeric region. In some cells a slightly different pattern of the axes (type B) was observed. These cells have an anomalous synaptonemal complex between A2t and Xt, that is, between portions of the X axis. It has been shown that autosomal chromatin becomes heteropycnotic in the proximity of the X−Y chromatin, and that this effect is stronger in the proximal part of A2t. This effect explains the enlarged volume of the sex vesicle.

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  1. Centro de Investigaciones sobre Reproduccion Facultad de Medicina, Buenos Aires

    Alberto J. Solari

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  1. Alberto J. Solari
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Solari, A.J. The behaviour of chromosomal axes in Searle's X-autosome translocation. Chromosoma 34, 99–112 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00285520

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00285520

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