HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Fechheimer, N. S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fechheimer, N. S.

Consequences of Chromosomal Aberrations in Mammals

The Ohio State University¹, Columbus

Abstract

Before the rediscovery of Mendel's principles of the breeding behavior of genetic factors at the turn of the 20th century, cytologists had already described how chromosomes behave at mitosis and meiosis. The very careful pattern of chromosomal distribution at meiosis, their particulate and duplex nature, and universal occurrence were the characteristics that made them easily recognizable as the vehicles in which hereditary factors are transmitted from one generation to the next. With this insight, the science of cytogenetics had its birth. Some idea of its growth is obtained when one realizes that by 1950 the chromosomes of over 3,000 species of animals had been studied (Makino, 1951). Critical observations of mammalian chromosomes were precluded for technical reasons so that only 154 mammalian species had been studied by 1950.

None the less, the very extensive study of cytogenetic phenomena in plants (Burnham, 1962) and the lower animals (White, 1954) demonstrated that variation in chromosome number and morphology both within and between taxa was widespread.

¹ Department of Dairy Science, Animal Reproduction Teaching and Research Center.