V.G. Dev

Suppression of human nucleolus organizer activity in mouse-human somatic hybrid cells☆

Abstract Cells from four different mouse-human somatic cell hybrids were stained with quinacrine to identify each metaphase chromosome and with ammoniacal silver by the Ag-AS method to locate nucleolus organizer regions. Each of the hybrids contained human acrocentric chromosomes. None of these human acrocentric chromosomes was stained with silver in any hybrid cell. Diploid cells were available from the human parent of one of the hybrids. In these cells both copies of nos. 13 and 15 stained with silver; the same chromosomes in the hybrid cell were not stained. These results support earlier reports that the expression of human ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes is suppressed in mouse-human hybrid cells. Further, they suggest that silver staining by the Ag-AS method reflects activity of rRNA genes rather than just the presence of these genes.

Detection of nucleolus organizer regions in chromosomes of human, chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan and gibbon

Nucleolus organizer regions were detected by the Ag-AS silver method in fixed metaphase chromosomes from human and primates. In the human, silver was deposited in the secondary constriction of a maximum of five pairs of acrocentric chromosomes: 13, 14, 15, 21 and 22. The chimpanzee also had five pairs of acrocentric chromosomes stained, corresponding to human numbers 13, 14, 18, 21 and 22. A gibbon had a single pair of chromosomes with a secondary constriction, which corresponded to the nucleolus organizer region. In each case the Ag-AS method detected the sites which have been shown by in situ hybridization to contain the ribosomal RNA genes. An orangutan had eight pairs of acrocentric chromosomes stained with Ag-AS, probably corresponding to human numbers 13, 14, 15, 18, 21 and 22, plus two others. Two gorillas had silver stain over two pairs of small acrocentric chromosomes and at the telomere of one chromosome 1. The larger gorilla acrocentric chromosomes had no silver stain although they all had secondary constrictions and entered into satellite associations.

Quinacrine fluorescent karyotypes of human diploid and heteroploid cell lines

Quinacrine-fluorescence karyotypes were prepared on a series of human cell lines. WI-38 karyotypes were indistinguishable from those obtained from cultured XX blood leukocytes. WI-L2 lymphoblastoid ce

5-Methylcytosine in heterochromatic regions of chromosomes: chimpanzee and gorilla compared to the human

Fixed metaphase chromosomes of gorilla and chimpanzee were UV-irradiated to produce regions of single-stranded DNA and then treated with antibodies specific for the minor DNA base 5-methylcytosme (5 MeC). An indirect immunofluorescence technique was used to visualize sites of antibody binding. In the gorilla six pairs of autosomes contained major fluorescent regions, indicating localized regions of highly methylated DNA. These corresponded, with the exception of chromosome 19, to the major regions of constitutive heterochromatin as seen by C-banding. The Y chromosome also contained a highly fluorescent region which was located just proximal to the intense Q-band region. In the chimpanzee no comparable concentrations of highly methylated DNA were seen. Smaller regions of intense 5 MeC binding were present on perhaps six chimpanzee chromosomes, including the Y. Five of these corresponded to chromosomes which were highly methylated in the gorilla. — There is diversity among the human, gorilla and chimpanzee in both the size and location of concentrations of 5 MeC, supporting the idea that satellite DNA evolves more rapidly than DNA in the remainder of the chromosome.

Regulation of rRNA gene expression in a human familial 14p+ marker chromosome.

SummaryChromosome studies were carried out on normal individuals from three generations of one family with a 14p+ chromosome. The short arm of the 14p+ chromosome stained well using Giemsa but poorly using quinacrine or trypsin-Giemsa methods; in each case there was an unstained secondary constriction near the distal end of the short arm. Two Ag bands of average size were present on the 14p+ short arm, indicating that there were two active nucleolus organizer regions; the Ag band near the distal end of the short arm was slightly larger than that near the centromere. Each of the two Ag bands was seen associated with the short arm of one or more of the other acrocentric chromosomes, with a combined frequency of association no greater than that of other chromosomes with an Ag band of the same size. In one individual, hybridization in situ with radioactive 18S and 28S ribosomal RNA showed six times as many autoradiographic silver grains over the short arm of the 14p+ chromosome as over that of any other acrocentric chromosome. The results obtained using in situ labeling indicated that the 14p+ chromosome had a large number of rRNA genes compared with the other acrocentric chromosomes, whereas the results obtained using Ag-staining and association frequency indicated that the 14p+ chromosome had no greater nucleolus organizer activity than did the other acrocentrics. The difference in these findings suggests that not all the rRNA genes on the 14p+ chromosome were active.

The quinacrine fluorescence karyotype of Mus musculus and demonstration of strain differences in secondary constrictions

In the mouse, virtually every autosome pair, and the X and Y, was identified by its distinctive fluorescent banding pattern after staining with quinacrine mustard. The karyotype was characterized further by measurement of orcein-stained chromosomes and autoradiographic analysis of terminal DNA replication. The autoradiographic identification of the X and Y chromosomes was confirmed by this technique. Fluorescent karyotype analysis of inbred strains and a series of Fx hybrids involving C57BL/6J revealed a polymorphism, the presence or absence of a prominent secondary constriction on any of four different chromosomes, which was probably inherited in a simple Mendelian fashion.

Chromosome markers in Mus musculus: Differences in C-banding between the subspecies M. m. musculus and M. m. molossinus

Quinacrine (Q-band) and centromeric heterochromatin (C-band) patterns of metaphase chromosomes of two subspecies of Mus musculus were compared. M. m. musculus (the laboratory mouse) and M. m. molossinus (a subspecies from Southeast Asia) had similar Q-band patterns along the length of the chromosomes, but differences were observed in the centromeric region of some chromosomes. The two subspecies had very different distributions of C-band material. Antibodies to 5-methylcytosine were bound to regions of the chromosome corresponding to the C-bands in each animal. These findings support the idea that satellite DNA, which is concentrated in the C-band region, changes more quickly than bulk DNA. The interfertility of these two subspecies permits the development of a musculus strain carrying normal marker chromosomes for genetic studies.

The gorilla karyotype: chromosome lengths and polymorphisms

Metaphase chromosome preparations of three male and one female Gorilla gorilla were stained to demonstrate quinacrine, Giemsa, centromeric heterochromatin, and, in one case, reverse

Method for locating the centromeres of mouse meiotic chromosomes and its application to T163H and T70H translocations

Abstract A method is described for rapid differential staining of the centromeric heterochromatin of mouse meiotic chromosomes. It has been used to analyse a trivalent involving the centric fusion translocation chromosome present in T163H heterozygotes and a quadrivalent involving the reciprocal translocation chromosomes present in T70H heterozygotes.

Nucleolus organizer activity and the origin of Robertsonian translocations

Chromosomes with active nucleolus organizer regions (NORs) were identified by combined Q-banding (in some cases), and silver staining in mouse cell lines. NOR-bearing chromosomes were overrepresented among the chromosomes involved in Robertsonian translocations in LM(TK-), A9, and RAG cell lines. Usually only one NOR-bearing chromosome was seen in any biarmed chromosome; relatively few contained two NOR-bearing chromosomes. Thus the nucleolus plays an important role, but nucleolar fusion is relatively unimportant, in the origin of Robertsonian translocations in the mouse.