Chromosome Banding Techniques

Chromosome banding techniques produce a series of consistent landmarks along the length of metaphase chromosomes that allow for both recognition of individual chromosomes within a genome and identification of specific segments of individual chromosomes. These landmarks facilitate assessment of chromosome normalcy, identification of sites of chromosome breaks and alterations, and location of specific genes. This unit covers these basic banding techniques (Q-banding, G-banding, and R-banding), which produce virtually identical patterns of bands along the length of human chromosomes, although the bands and polymorphic regions highlighted may differ with each technique. These techniques highlight reproducible landmarks along the length of the chromosome and specialized staining techniques can be used to highlight particular regions of chromosomes, such as heterochromatic and repeated-sequence segments. These specialized techniques, nucleolar organizer region (NOR) staining, centromeric heterochromatin staining (C-banding), methylated satellite DNA staining (distamycin-DAPI banding), and replication banding are also presented in this unit.