Metaphase distribution of the mouse chromosomes

The reports in the literature agree that non-random distribution patterns do occur for the acrocentric human chromosomes in metaphase cell preparations, and it has been suggested that it is a property of acrocentric chromosomes that promotes these non-random patterns. Under this hypothesis, the telocentric chromosomes of the mouse should not show deviation from a random distribution within a cell. This possibility is examined using our data for several types of mouse cells and there is no indication of any significant clustering. However, certain translocations do appear to lead to significant non-random patterns. Alternate hypotheses are presented as possible explanations for this occurrence.This project was supported by: California State Department of Mental Hygiene; Mental Retardation Program, NPI, UCLA; MCH-927, Interdisciplinary Training in Mental Retardation; HD-04612, Mental Retardation Research Center, UCLA; HD-00345, Research Training in Mental Retardation; HD-05615, Developmental Biology in Mental Retardation, and Cancer Research Funds of the University of California.