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Does ‘affinity’ hold the key to fertility in the female mule?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Ann C. Chandley
Ann C. Chandley
Affiliation:
MRC Clinical and Population Cytogenetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, Scotland

Summary

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Michie's hypothesis of ‘affinity’ is invoked to explain how fertility might theoretically be achieved in a female mule or hinny. Chromosomally balanced haploid gametes could be produced in these inter-specific hybrids by movement of centromeres of similar ancestry to opposite poles at anaphase I of meiosis. Male hybrids could probably never be fertile on account of the low numbers of spermatozoa produced; females, on the other hand, might occasionally achieve fertility by the ovulation of a chromosomally balanced egg.

Type
Short Paper
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , February 1981 , pp. 105 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

References

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