Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The genetical and mechanical properties of the sex chromosomes

VII.Apodemus sylvaticus andA. hebridensis

  • Published:
Journal of Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

1. The diploid chromosome number in the spermatogonia ofApodemus sylvaticus andA. hebridensis is 48.

2. The sex chromosomes are unequal in size; theX is the largest chromosome in the complement, theY is the smallest. TheY chromosome is smaller inA. hebridensis than inA. sylvaticus.

3. The sex bivalent shows a uniform symmetrical configuration during meiotic metaphase in both species.

4. InA. hebridensis post-reduction is obligatory, theX andY segregate at the second meiotic anaphase. InA. sylvaticus 8% of the primary spermatocytes show pre-reduction, and 92% post-reduction, of theX andY.

5. The behaviour of theX- andY-chromosomes ofA. sylvaticus during meiosis suggests that the pairing segment is composed of a distal and a proximal region, i.e. that the centromere is located interstitially and chiasmata can be formed on either side of it.

6. InA. hebridensis the behaviour of theXY bivalent suggests that the distal pairing segment is either entirely absent or is too small for chiasma to have formed, and hence segregation of theX andY is always post-reductional.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Brohmer, P. (1929).Die Tierwelt Mitteleuropas, Wirbeltiere. Leipzig.

  • Carothers, E. E. (1926). “The maturation divisions in relation to the segregation of homologous chromosomes.”Quart. Rev. Biol. 1, 419–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —— (1931). “The maturation divisions and segregation of heteromorphic homologous chromosomes in Acrididae (Orthoptera).”Biol. Bull. Woods Hole,61, 342–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darlington, C. D. (1937).Recent Advances in Cytology, 2nd ed. London.

  • —— (1939a). “Misdivision and the genetics of the centromere.”J. Genet. 37, 341–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • -- (1939b).The Evolution of Genetic Systems. Camb. Univ. Press.

  • —— (1940). “The origin of iso-chromosomes.”J. Genet. 39, 351–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich, G. (1929). “ÜberSylvaemus sylvaticus L. undflavicollis Melchior.”Z. Säugetierkde, 2.

  • Koller, P. C. (1937). “The genetical and mechanical properties of sex chromosomes. III. Man.”Proc. roy. Soc. Edinb. 57, 194–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • —— (1939). “The differentiation of sex-determining mechanism in two species ofApodemus.”Math. Természetiud. Értesitö,58, 976–81. (Hungarian and English.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Koller, P. C. &Darlington, C. D. (1934). “The genetical and mechanical properties of the sex-chromosomes. I.Rattus norvegicus, ♂.”J. Genet. 29, 159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matthey, R. (1936a). “Le problème des hétérochromosomes chez les Mammifères.”Arch. Biol. 47, 319–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • —— (1936b). “La formule chromosomiale et les hétérochromosomes chez lesApodemus européens.”Z. Zellforsch. 25, 501–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —— (1938). “Contribution nouvelle à l’étude des hétérochromosomes chez les mammifères, et singulièrement chez les rongeurs.”J. Genet. 36, 73–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minouchi, O. (1928). “On the chromosomes of the domestic mouse (Mus wagneri var.albula).”Jap. J. Zool. 1, 269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller, H. J. (1940). “Bearings of theDrosophila work on systematics.”The New Systematics, pp. 185–268 (ed. by J. S. Huxley). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oguma, K. (1934). “A new type of the mammalian sex-chromosome, found in a field mouse,Apodemus speciosus.”Cytologia, Tokyo,5, 460–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • -- (1937). “Absence of theY-chromosome in the vole,Microtus montebelli Edw. with supplementary remarks on the sex-chromosomes ofEvotomys andApodemus.”Cytologia, Tokyo, Fujii Jubilee Volume, pp. 796–808.

  • Raynaud, M. (1936). “Les hétérochromosomes du Mulot.”C.R. Acad. Sci., Paris,202, 1942.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, W. R. B. (1916). “Chromosome studies. III. Inequalities and deficiencies in homologous chromosomes: their bearing upon synapsis and the loss of unit characters.”J. Morph. 26, 109–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tateishi, S. (1934). “A preliminary report on some peculiar shaped chromosomes in three species ofApodemus.”Trans. nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa,24, 15.

    Google Scholar 

  • —— (1935). “On the sex chromosomes of eleven species of the Muridae, etc.”Proc. Jap. Ass. Adv. Sci. 10, 1007–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenrich, D. H. (1916). “The spermatogenesis ofPhrynotettix magnus with special reference to synapsis and the individuality of the chromosomes.”Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv. 60, 55–136.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Animal Genetics, University of Edinburgh, UK

    P. C. Koller

Authors
  1. P. C. Koller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Koller, P.C. The genetical and mechanical properties of the sex chromosomes. Journ. of Genetics 41, 375–389 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02983028

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02983028

Keywords

Search

Navigation