spireme

[ spahy-reem ]

noun

, Cell Biology.

1. the threadlike chromatin of a cell nucleus, present during early meiosis or mitosis.

spireme

/ ˈspaɪriːm /

noun

1. cytology the tangled mass of chromatin threads into which the nucleus of a cell is resolved at the start of mitosis

Word History and Origins

Origin of spireme¹

1885–90; < Greek speírēma coil, equivalent to speirē-, variant stem of speirâsthai to be coiled around + -ma noun suffix of result

Word History and Origins

Origin of spireme¹

C19: from Greek speirēma a coil, from speira a coil, spire ²

Example Sentences

As the thread contracts, its granular origin becomes less evident, and at the same time the coils become fewer in number; the “close” spireme of earlier stages becomes the “loose” spireme of later stages.

From Project Gutenberg

W. Pfitzner in 1882 was the first to show that the splitting of the chromosomes in the equatorial plate was only the reappearance of a split in the spireme thread and was due to a corresponding 715 division into two of each of the chromatin granules.

From Project Gutenberg

In the spermatogenic cells of Ascaris, A. Brauer has shown that the chromatin granules divide while still scattered over the nuclear reticulum and before either the formation of a spireme thread or the division of the centrosome.

From Project Gutenberg

The first division is thus a reducing division, while the split appearing in the anaphase of the heterotype and presumably reappearing in the prophase of the homotype is the original split of the spireme thread.

From Project Gutenberg

Significance of Mitosis.—Whatever may be the nature of the chemico-physical changes occurring during cell-division, of which the achromatic spindle and astral rays are the visible expression, it is certain that the whole of this complicated process has for its function, not the division of the chromatin, for that has already occurred on the spireme thread or even earlier, but the distribution of the divided chromatin granules to the two daughter nuclei.

From Project Gutenberg