Summary
An idiogram of the karyotype of the mouse somatic cells in culture was constructed by arranging the chromosomes according to decreasing order of length. The length of the individual chromosomes was then measured in 25 colchicin-blocked, hypotonic-treated metaphases from male C3H mice.
It was shown that the 40 chromosomes of the diploid chromosome set of the mouse, although they appeared to be very similar to one another, can be subdivided into five distinct groups, each including chromosomes of similar length. The X chromosome belongs to the second group, the Y chromosome to the fifth group. It is thus possible to identify the sex also in somatic cells.
In order to test the reliability of such a classification, a statistical analysis of the chromosome measurements in 25 mitosis of male C3H mice was carried out. The analysis has shown that the length differences between the chromosomes belonging to different groups are highly significant. A high variability among mitoses is however present.
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Crippa, M. The mouse karyotype in somatic cells cultured in vitro. Chromosoma 15, 301–311 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00321516
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00321516