Richard Fehon, University of Chicago
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For fruit flies, the salivary gland is used to secrete materials for making the pupal case, the protective enclosure in which a larva transforms into an adult fly. For scientists, this gland provided one of the earliest glimpses into the genetic differences between individuals within a species. Chromosomes in the cells of these salivary glands replicate thousands of times without dividing, becoming so huge that scientists can easily view them under a microscope and see differences in genetic content between individuals.
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