Heterochromatin and nucleolus-organizer-region behaviour at male pachytene of Sus scrofa domestica

In the domestic pig (2n=38) two types of constitutive heterochromatin can be differentiated by fluorescence counterstaining techniques. All 24 biarmed autosomes and the X chromosome have chromomycin A₃-positive centromeric C-bands, whereas all 12 acrocentric chromosomes exhibit DA-DAPI-positive centromeric heterochromatin. Fluorescence analysis of male pachytene nuclei revealed that the DA-DAPI-positive C-bands form one or two large chromocentres per cell, while the chromomycin A₃-bright C-material is well scattered. Hence, the bivalents formed by the acrocentric chromosome pairs are centromerically associated, whilst the submetacentric bivalents are not. —Counce-Meyer spreading techniques were used to study the structure of synaptonemal complexes (SCs) both by light and electron microscopy. In general, the SCs of the domestic pig resemble those described for other mammals. The SC formed by the X and the Y may include up to 94.5% of the Y chromosome. In silver-stained microspreads each of the bivalents (nos. 8 and 10) bearing the nucleolus-organizer-regions (NORs) is connected to a pair of nucleoli, indicating that all four NORs are active during early meiotic stages. By contrast, in the majority of mitotic metaphases of phytohaemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes only one pair (no. 10) exhibited Ag-NOR staining. — The significance of the chromosome disposition in the pachytene nucleus is discussed with regard to heterochromatin composition and karyotype evolution.This paper is dedicated to Prof. Hans Bauer on the occasion of his 80th birthday