colchicine
(ˈkɒlkɪsaɪn)
[f. colchic-um + -ine.]
An organic alkaloid C17H19NO5, found in all parts of the Colchicum autumnale. Now used esp. to induce genetic changes in plants and animals. Also Comb.
| 1853 Pharmac. Jrnl. XIII. 134 Codeine..veratrine, emetine, colchicine. 1885 Daily News 15 Oct. 5/7 The charge..of having poisoned his wife with colchicine. 1937 Blakeslee & Avery in Jrnl. Heredity XXVIII. 393 (heading) Methods of inducing doubling of chromosomes in plants by treatment with colchicine. 1945 [see autopolyploid]. 1946 Nature 31 Aug. 287/1 The use of colchicine-induced polyploids in plant breeding. 1957 M. Abercrombie et al. Dict. Biol. 57 Reversion of colchicine-inhibited metaphase nuclei to the resting state results in polyploidy. |