Abstract
THE chromosome system of the mealy bug, Planococcus citri (= Pseudococcus), is unique for the study of differences between heterochromatin and euchromatin. In the male, the paternal chromosomes are heterochromatic; that is, they remain condensed throughout interphase. In the female, both maternal and paternal sets are euchromatic. The paternal set behaves like heterochromatic sex chromosomes of other organisms; it reproduces asynchronously from the maternal or euchromatic set and is genetically inert1. Marker genes in the mealy bug are expressed in the male only if received from the mother (personal communication from S. W. Brown). X-ray damage to the heterochromatic set is not expressed2 and the heterochromatic set is not labelled with tritiated uridine3.
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LOEWUS, M. Analysis of Chromatin in Male and Female Mealy Bugs. Nature 218, 474–476 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/218474a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/218474a0
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