Drosophila melanogaster, polytene chromosomes

In certain cells of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and related insects, interphase chromosomes are reduplicated 10 times, generating polytene chromosomes that are visible in the light microscope (see Figure 10-31). 

Pardue, M.-L. (1994). Looking at Drosophila polytene chromosomes. In Drosophila melanogaster Practical Uses in Cell and Molecular Biology (L. S. B. Goldstein and E. A. Fyrberg, eds.), pp. 333-351. Academic Press, San Diego, CA,... 

Kaufman, T.C., Lewis, R., and Wakimoto, B., Cytogenetic analysis of chromosome 3 in Drosophila melanogaster tbe homeotic gene complex in polytene chromosome interval 84A-B, Genetics, 94, 115-133, 1980. 

Plaut, W., D. Nash, and T. Fanning. 1966. Ordered replication of DNA in polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. J. Molec. Biol., 16 85-93. 

The part of the band which contains the structural gene is located near the interband. Part of the band contains repeated sequences which separate the unique sequences from each other. The giant palindrome which corresponds to the 5 S RNA genes in Drosophila melanogaster was demonstrated to be associated with a band on the polytene chromosomes (Cohen, 1976). 

Lefevre G. Jr. 1976. A photograpliic representation and interpretation of the polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster salivary glands. In The genetics and biology o/Drosophila (ed. M. Ashburner and E. Novitski), vol. la, pp. 31-66. Academic Press, New York. 

Zink B., Engstrom Y., Gehring W.J., and Paro R. 1991. Direct interaction of the Polycomb protein with Antennapedia regulatory sequences in polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. EMBO J. 10 153-162. 

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