† spireme Cytology. Obs.
Also spirem.
[ad. G. spirem (W. Flemming Zellsubstanz, Kern und Zelltheilung (1882) xx. 195), f. Ionic Gr. σπείρηµ-α coil, convolution.]
The tangled strands of chromosomal material seen in the early stages of cell division, formerly believed to be a single continuous strand (or two in a diploid cell, etc.); = skein n.1 2 c.
| 1889 Q. Jrnl. Microsc. Sci. XXX. 171 We call this stage, with Flemming, the ‘Knäuel-Stadium’ (skein stage), or ‘spirem’, or ‘mother-skein’. 1905 Amer. Naturalist XXXIX. 484 During synapsis the reticulum becomes transformed into a definite spirem. 1910 Encycl. Brit. VII. 714/1 As the spireme thread contracts, it segments into a number of short, and usually U-shaped, segments—the ‘chromosomes’. 1936 Discovery May 161/1 The hypothesis of the continuous spireme, long given up by cytologists, is resurrected, and entirely inaccurate statements are made. |