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Electron microscopic observations on interband fibrils in Drosophila salivary chromosomes

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Abstract

Acetic alcohol squash, preparations of salivary chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster stained with uranylacetate during fixation and dehydration were sectioned and examined with the electron microscope. At high magnification the interband regions are seen to be composed of coiled fibrils in the range of 50 Å which often seem to be arranged in pairs. Submicroscopic bodies found along the interband fibrils seem to delimit successive subunits. It is suggested that transverse coiling of the fibrils within the boundaries of each subunit leads to the formation of chromomeres.

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Sorsa, M., Sorsa, V. Electron microscopic observations on interband fibrils in Drosophila salivary chromosomes. Chromosoma 22, 32–41 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00291285

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