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Role of heterochromatin in the control of cell cycle duration

Abstract

RECENTLY Bennett has demonstrated that most annual plants have less nuclear DNA than perennial plants1. Since there is a positive correlation between DNA content and minimum duration of the mitotic cell cycle2, Bennett suggested that low DNA content and short cycles might be factors determining the generation time of short-lived plants. These assumptions also fit the general findings that DNA contents have increased strikingly during general evolution3 but have decreased during specialisation4–6.

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NAGL, W. Role of heterochromatin in the control of cell cycle duration. Nature 249, 53–54 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/249053a0

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