Chromosomes   and Their Organization

During  division  phase , the duplicated  chromatin  fibres  become extremely  shortened (= condensed),  by coiling and folding ,into short think and microscopically   visible  rod like structures  of various  shapes and sizes, It  is necessary to learn about  these  structures before  dealing with  the sequential changes of mitosis. These  structures werer  observed first  by Naegeli 1842 and later by russow 1872 and Balbiani 1876  waldeyer 1888 named these,  chromosomes gr.khroma =coloured + soma =body ) because these take a  dark  stain  when treated  with basis dyes.

Karyotype :Beneden  1888 discovered   that the  chromosomal  pattern  is a specific  character .i.e.   each  species  has  its own chromosomal  complement different  from those  of all  other  species ,This  complement  of a species is called  its karyotype  .It  implies  that in all cells   membrane  of a plant or animals  species,  not only  the number  of chromosomal is the  same  but even  the  shapes  sizes,  and structure  of   the  various chromosomes  in the set are the same .The  chromosomal  number  varies from 10 to 50 in most  of the species,  The smallest  number is however two  found  in a nematode subspecies  ascaris megalocephala  univalence, and the largest  number is 1600 in  aulacantha ( a radiolarian protozoan ) To  quote a few  examples    the chromosomal  number is 46  in man  ( Homo sapiens )  32 in Hydra vulgaris. 12  in housefly (Musca domestica ) 26 in frog  (Rana pipiens )  in rabbit, (Oryctolagus  cuniculus ) 38 in cat (Felish domesticus ) 78 in dog (cains familiaris)  80 in pigeon (Columba  livia)  8 in fruitfly ( Drosophila melanogaster ) in mosquito ( Culex pipiens ) and so on.