ISSN:
1432-0886
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract Among specimens of the spectacled hare-wallaby Lagorchestes conspicillatus Gould (Marsupialia, family Macropodidae) 4 males had 15 chromosomes and 2 females 16 chromosomes. The sex chromosomes are X1X1X2X2 in the female and X1X2Y in the male, the Y being metacentric and both X chromosomes are acrocentric. In about 96% of sperm mother cells at meiosis the sex chromosomes form a chain trivalent and in more than 99% of these this orients convergently so that the X1 and X2 move to the same pole. Evidence is presented that L. conspicillatus has evolved from a form with 22 chromosomes including a small X and a minute Y. Autoradiographic studies show that the proximal fifth of the X1 chromosome replicates late. This is probably the ancestral X chromosome which has been translocated to an autosome. The fate of the original Y is obscure but an hypothesis is proposed that it forms the centromeric region of the Y. A single male had 14 chromosomes and was heterozygous for a translocation involving the centric fusion of two acrocentric autosomes. In about 30% of sperm mother cells the autosomal trivalent did not disjoin regularly but, despite this, all secondary spermatocytes observed at metaphase 2 had balanced complements of chromosomes. It is assumed that unbalanced secondary spermatocytes died before reaching metaphase.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00293681
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