Fluorescent in situ hybridization technology is one of the most exciti
ng and versatile research tools to be developed in recent years, It ha
s enabled research to progress at a phenomenal rate in diverse areas o
f basic research as well as in clinical medicine, Fluorescent in situ
hybridization has applications in physical mapping, the study of nucle
ar architecture and chromatin packaging, and the investigation of fund
amental principles of biology such as DNA replication, RNA processing,
gene amplification, gene integration and chromatin elimination. This
review highlights some of these areas and provides source material for
the reader who seeks more information on a specific field.