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Glite Dictionary
🧬 With giant chromosomes 🧬 A giant chromosome
polytene

polytene

9.9
A very large chromosome with many parallel strands found in insect salivary gland cells
  • noun
  • /ˈpɒlɪtiːn/
  • Specialized
: politeno
  • Figure 2 shows a contact-mode image in air of a polytene chromosome from the salivary gland of the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.

Examples

  • In the lab, we prepared a slide to examine the structure of the polytene chromosomes found in the insect's salivary glands.

  • Studying the polytene chromosomes helped the students understand the complexities of genetic replication.

  • The scientist observed the polytene chromosomes during his research on the genetic makeup of the fly.

Surface Forms

polytene singular
polytenes plural

Morphology

polytene = poly + tene

The classical prefix poly- 'many' gives only a partial clue, and the remaining technical element does not let an average learner infer the biological noun meaning.

Etymology

Polytene comes from the Greek parts poly- 'many' (seen in polygon) and -tene 'threads' or 'strands', and a helpful way to remember it is that a polytene is a giant chromosome made of many parallel 'threads', so the noun names that many-stranded chromosome.