A HIGH-RESOLUTION GBG-BANDED KARYOTYPE OF THE ATLANTIC BOTTLE-NOSED-DOLPHIN, TURSIOPS-TRUNCATUS - GENERATION OF AN IDEOGRAM, AND NOR LOCALIZATION BY FLUORESCENCE IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION

A high resolution karyotype was prepared using GBG-banded chromosomes from kidney epithelial cell lines of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus. The karyotype was used to generate a banded ideogr am of T. truncatus that will facilitate cytogenetic analyses essential for comparison of dolphin chromosomes with those of potentially relat ed terrestrial vertebrates. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysi s of the karyotype using a rodent (Geomys bursarius) 28S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) probe allowed localization of four nucleolar organizer (NOR) r egions to the short arms of two chromosome pairs. FISK mapping, using DNA probes, is dependent on a pre-existing banded ideogram, and provid es the means to initiate physical mapping of the dolphin genome.