Open AccessThe effect of X-rays on the first meiotic division in three species of orthoptera
Author(s) -
M. J. D. White
Publication year - 1937
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, biological sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9193
pISSN - 0080-4649
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1937.0081
Subject(s) - meiosis , biology , mitosis , orthoptera , locust , gamete , white (mutation) , evolutionary biology , sperm , genetics , zoology , botany , gene
Although several papers have been published which deal with the cytological effects of irradiation, the whole subject is still in the preliminary or exploratory stage. It is clear that a complex sequence of biochemical phenomena result from the irradiation of a tissue, and that these may produce morphological changes in the chromosomes and other constituents of the cell. Generalizations based on the genetical results obtained by irradiatingDrosophila sperm are dangerous, since the male gamete is a highly peculiar cell with practically no cytoplasm or nuclear sap. The few papers which have dealt with the effects of X-rays on the meiotic divisions (Helwig 1933; Mather 1934; Stone 1933; Huskins and Hunter 1935; Riley 1936), although interesting, are really only preliminary studies. In a previous paper the author (White 1935) dealt with the effects of irradiation on the spermatogonial (mitotic) divisions of the migratory locust. This, the second paper, deals with certain effects observed at the first meiotic division in three other species of Orthoptera,Mecostethus grossus L.,Metrioptera brachyptera L. andStauroderus (Chorthippus bicolor Charp. Future papers will deal in further detail with other phenomena resulting from irradiation, the effects of different dosages, etc.