Hi folks,
this is a classic object of microscopy:
chromosomes from the salivary glands of chironomus larvae. The glands have been fixed in Carnoy, and dyed in carmin acetic acid. First pic is the head of the larva, accidently dyed under the coverglass:
chromosomes ( objective 50x, 0.95, plan, oil, eyepiece 10x Leitz periplan)
Bernhard
Chromosomes of Chironomus Larvae
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- bernhardinho
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Chromosomes of Chironomus Larvae
Last edited by bernhardinho on Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Some interesting images Bernhard but I am a bit confused . I thought that the chromosomes were found within the nuclei of cells and were in pairs. These seem a bit large for chromosomes, though I am not implying that they are not, they do look quite a bit like them. I don't know. But, indeed some interesting images you have presented here.
- bernhardinho
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Hi Ken,
good question! The answer is: that's why they're a classic object for microscopy!!
In fact you find these chromosomes in the nuclei of the salivary glands.
Please let me remind you of Drosophila melanogaster! We have all learned at school that this fly has been the key to classical genetics. There are cases where the division of the chromatides does not take place as usual. In this cases the chromosomes get larger and larger because of failures in chromatides division during mitosis, they are then called giant chromosomes, or polytene chromosomes, thus becoming very accessable for research (and of course for the amateur as well!).
See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytene_chromosome
Bernhard
good question! The answer is: that's why they're a classic object for microscopy!!
In fact you find these chromosomes in the nuclei of the salivary glands.
Please let me remind you of Drosophila melanogaster! We have all learned at school that this fly has been the key to classical genetics. There are cases where the division of the chromatides does not take place as usual. In this cases the chromosomes get larger and larger because of failures in chromatides division during mitosis, they are then called giant chromosomes, or polytene chromosomes, thus becoming very accessable for research (and of course for the amateur as well!).
See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytene_chromosome
Bernhard