Chromosome Banding
Chromosome Banding
Chromosome Banding
Study of chromosome number and structure by staining the dividing cells with certain dyes
and then examining them under microscope for cytogenetic analysis is called chromosome
banding.
1. Q-banding:
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▪ Quinacrine is an intercalating agent and it intercalate between the base pairs of the DNA
helix. Quinacrine has more affinity for DNA sequence containing AT sequence. Therefore,
fluorescence of quinacrine is enhanced along AT rich sequence and appear bright than GC
rich sequence.
▪ * quinacrine is carcinogenic.
2. G-banding:
▪ G-banding is the most frequent used technique for chromosome staining in cytogenetics.
▪ Giemsa staining is an excellent nonfluorescent staining techniques.
▪ Giemsa also creates a reproducible pattern of bands on each chromosome. It is still not clear
why chromosomes show bands when they are stained with quinacrine or Giemsa
▪ Bright field microscope is used for visualization
▪ In G banding technique, before using Giemsa stain, there is always a pretreatment step.
▪ Usually proteolytic enzyme trypsin is used for pretreatment. Therefore, the process is also
known as GTG banding (G-banding by trypsin with Giemsa).
▪ There is an alternative to Giemsa stain, and it is Wright stain.
▪ G-banding also produce same banding pattern as Q banding along the length of
chromosome. Geimsa stain has more affinity for DNA sequence rich in AT content hence
stained dark while sequence rich in GC content stain light.
3. C-banding:
4. R-banding:
BOTANY: SEM-VI, PAPER-DSE4T: ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES IN PLANT SCIENCES, UNIT-1: CHROMOSOME BANDING
COMPILED AND CIRCULATED BY DR. PRITHWI GHOSH, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY, NARAJOLE RAJ COLLEGE
▪ Denaturation of chromosome at AT rich region occurs at faster rate resulting in loss of DNA
from these regions but not from GC rich region. The GC rich region is then stained by
Giemsa stain which appears stained (R band)
▪ G-banding is usually preferred over R-banding. However, R-banding can be used for
chromosome identification.
▪ In some cases, R-banding is a useful complement to G-banding because some small light G
band can be more easily detected when they are stained by R-banding.
▪ R-banding is also useful for visualization of telomere sequence at the ends of chromosomes.
Telomeres stained dark with R-banding while light with G-banding.
References
https://www.onlinebiologynotes.com/chromosome-banding-and-painting/
BOTANY: SEM-VI, PAPER-DSE4T: ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES IN PLANT SCIENCES, UNIT-1: CHROMOSOME BANDING