Abstract
The staining of male Chinese hamster chromosomes at meiotic prophase with several banding techniques is described. C-banding results only occasionally in well-differentiated pachytene and diakinesis bivalents. Meiotic C-bands are small compared with those in somatic metaphase chromosomes. In mice C-bands mainly consist of highly repetitive satellite DNA, whereas in Chinese hamsters the majority of the DNA in C-bands is not or hardly repetitive. Especially in Chinese hamsters both the degree of chromatin despiralisation and the folding pattern of the chromatin drastically reduce the distinction of C-bands in late meiotic prophasc chromosomes. In contrast to the situation in mice, C-heterochromatin associations are never observed in Chinese hamster spermatocytes. It is assumed that the presence of satellite DNA rather than constitutive heterochromatin is the basis for the associations of the paracentromeric chromosome regions in mice. The location and behaviour of AT- and GC-rich DNA in Chinese hamster primary spermatocytes is studied with base-specific fluorochromes (H 33258 and Chromomycin A3 for AT-and GC-rich DNA respectively), in combination with a pretreatment with base-specific non-fluorescent antibiotics (Actinomycin D and Netropsin for GC-and AT-rich DNA respectively). No indications are found for the clustering of AT-or GC-rich DNA in Chinese hamster pachytene nuclei. A comparison of banding patterns observed in somatic metaphases and in diakinesis gives some information about the partial homology of the X and Y chromosome. The results are conflicting. The short arm of the Y chromosome is homologous with a part of the X chromosome. According to the C-band pattern the long arm of the X chromosome is involved in the pairing with Y, whereas fluorescence banding patterns indicate that it is the short arm of X.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alfi, O. S. & Menon, R., 1973. A rapid C-band staining technique for chromosomes. J. Lab. clin. Med. 82: 692–694.
Arrighi, F. E. & Hsu, T. C., 1971. Localisation of heterochromatin in human chromosomes. Cytogenetics 10: 81–86.
Arrighi, F. E., Hsu, T. C., Pathak, S. & Sawada, H., 1974. The sex chromosomes of the Chinese hamster: constitutive heterochromatin deficient in repetitive DNA sequences. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 13: 268–274.
Caspersson, T., Simonsson, E. & Zech, L., 1970. UV-absorption and quinacrine mustard fluorescence patterns for chromosome aberration study in Chinese hamster. Expl Cell Res. 63: 243–244.
Comings, D. E. & Mattoccia, E., 1970. Replication of repetitious DNA and the S period. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 67: 448–455.
Comings, D. E. & Mattoccia, E., 1972. DNA of mammalian and avian heterochromatin. Expl Cell Res. 71: 113–131.
Comings, D. E., 1973. Biochemical mechanisms of chromosome banding and colour banding with acridine orange. In: Chromosome identification, Proccedings of the 23th Nobel symposium, Stockholm, 1972 (T.Caspersson & L.Zech, eds.), pp. 293–299. New York, Academic Press.
Fraccaro, M., Gustavsson, I., Hultén, M., Lindsten, J. & Tiepolo, L., 1969. Late-replicating Y chromosome in spermatogonia of the Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus). Cytogenetics 8: 263–271.
Fredga, K. & Santesson, B., 1964. Male meiosis in the Syrian, Chinese, and European hamsters. Hereditas 52: 36–48.
Gamperl, R., Vistorin, G. & Rosenkranz, W., 1976. A comparative analysis of the karyotypes of Cricetulus cricetus and Cricetulus griseus. Chromosoma 55: 259–265.
Hilwig, I. & Gropp, A., 1972. Staining for constitutive heterochromatin in mammalian chromosomes with a new fluorochrome. Expl Cell Res. 75: 122–126.
Hsu, T. C. & Zenzes, M. T., 1964. Mammalian chromosomes in vitro. XVII. Idiogram of the Chinese hamster. J. natn. Cancer Inst. 32: 857–869.
Hsu, T. C. & Arrighi, F. E., 1971. Distribution of constitutive heterochromatin in mammalian chromosomes. Chromosoma 34: 243–253.
Jong, B.de, Anders, G. J. P. A., Wierda, J., Meer, I.van der & Zijlstra, J., 1979. Micromethod for chromosome preparations from Chinese hamster lymphocytes. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 23: 194–200.
Jorgenson, K. F., Sande, J. H.van der & Lin, C. C., 1978. The use of base pair specific DNA binding agents as affinity labels for the study of mammalian chromosomes. Chromosoma 68: 287–302.
Lavappa, K. S. & Yerganian, G., 1970. Spermatogonial and meiotic chromosomes of the Armenian hamster, Cricetulus migratorius. Expl Cell Res. 61: 159–172.
Moses, M. J., 1977a. Synaptonemal complex karyotyping in spermatocytes of the Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus). I. Morphology of the autosomal complement in spread preparations. Chromosoma 60: 99–125.
Moses, M. J., 1977b. Synaptonemal complex karyotyping in spermatocytes of the Chinese hamster (Cricctulus griseus). II. Morphology of the XY pair in spread preparations. Chromosoma 60: 127–137.
Moscs, M. J., Slatton, G. H., Gambling, T. M. & Starmer, C. F., 1977. Synaptonemal complex karyotyping in spermatocytes of the Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus). III. Quantitative evaluation. Chromosoma 60: 345–375.
Oakberg, E. F., 1956. Duration of spermatogenesis in the mouse and timing of stages of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium. Am. J. Anat. 99: 507–516.
Oud, J. L., 1973. Identification of Chinese hamster chromosome bivalents at diakinesis by quinacrine mustard fluorescence. Genetica 44: 416–427.
Oud, J. L. & Rooij, D. G.de, 1977. Spermatogenesis in the Chinese hamster. Anat. Rec. 187: 113–124.
Oud, J. I., DeJong, J. H. & DeRooij, D. G., 1978. A sequential analysis of meiosis in the male mouse using a restricted spermatocyte population obtained by a hydroxyurea/ triaziquone treatment. Chromosoma 71: 237–248.
Oud, J. L. & Reutlinger, A. H. H., 1981. Chromosome behaviour during carly meiotic prophase of mouse primary spermatocytes. Chromosoma 83: 395–407.
Schweizer, D., 1976. Reverse fluorescent chromosome banding with chromomycin and DAPI. Chromosoma 58: 307–324.
Stockert, J. C., 1972. Meiotic association of X and Y mouse chromosomes as revealed by acridine orange fluorescence after DNA denaturation and differential renaturation. Expl Cell Res. 74: 279–280.
Sumper, A. T., 1972. A simple technique for demonstrating centromeric heterochromatin. Expl Cell Res. 75: 304–306.
Summer, A. T., 1977. Suppression of quinacrine banding of human chromosomes by mounting in organic media. Chromosoma 64: 337–342.
Utakoji, T., 1966. On the homology between the X and the Y chromosome of the Chinese hamster. Chromosoma 18: 449–454.
Yunis, J. J. & Yasmineh, W. G., 1971. Heterochromatin, satellite DNA, and cell function. Science 174: 1200–1209.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oud, J.L., Scholten, R. The staining of constitutive heterochromatin, and A-T and G-C rich DNA in lymphocytes and primary spermatocytes of the Chinese hamster. Genetica 58, 55–63 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00056004
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00056004