Polytene
adj, noun
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A very large chromosome with many chromatids (arms); a chromosome exhibiting polyteny
"Unlike normal chromosomes, polytenes are visible in a microscope even when cell division is not taking place."
Adjective
- 1 Having very large chromosomes with many chromatids (arms).
"When this was done, it could be shown that the production of polytene chromosomes is not uniform for all chromosomes of a single nucleus, ie, some chromosomes are more polytene than others, […]"
Example
More examples"When this was done, it could be shown that the production of polytene chromosomes is not uniform for all chromosomes of a single nucleus, ie, some chromosomes are more polytene than others, […]"
Etymology
From poly- + -tene.
More for "polytene"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.