About this scholarly article

Differences of size and shape of active and inactive X-chromosome domains in human amniotic fluid cell nuclei by A. Bischoff; J. Albers; I. Kharboush; E. Stelzer; T. Cremer; C. Cremer is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

It is a widely held belief that the inactive X-chromosome (Xi) in female cell nuclei is strongly condensed as compared to the largely decondensed active X-chromosome (Xa). We have reconsidered this problem and painted X-chromosome domains in nuclei of subconfluent, female and male human amniotic fluid cell cultures (46,XX and 46,XY) by chromosomal in situ suppression (CISS) hybridization with biotinylated human X-chromosome specific library DNA. FITCconjugated avidin was used for probe detection and nuclei were counterstained with propidium iodide (PI). The shape of these nuclei resembling flat ellipsoids or elliptical cylinders makes them suitable for both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) analyses. 2D analyses of Xi-and Xa-domains were performed in 34 female cell nuclei by outlining of the painted domains using a camera lucida. Identification of the sex chromatin body in DAPI-stained nuclei prior to CISShybridization was confirmed by its colocalization with one of the two painted X-domains. In 31 of the 34 nuclei the area Axi for the inactive X-domain was smaller than the area A, , for the active domain (mean ratio Ax,/Ax, = 1.9 \* 0.8 SD, range 1.0-4.3). The signed

Author

A. Bischoff; J. Albers; I. Kharboush; E. Stelzer; T. Cremer; C. Cremer

Publisher

John Wiley and Sons; Wiley (John Wiley & Sons); John Wiley & Sons Inc.; Wiley (ISSN 1059-910X)

Published

1993

Language

EN