A PANEL OF SUBCHROMOSOMAL PAINTING LIBRARIES REPRESENTING OVER 300 REGIONS OF THE HUMAN GENOME

DNA samples from about 100 human-hamster somatic cell. hybrids, previo usly characterized by conventional banding techniques, were amplified with dual-Alu PCR. The products were then used as probes in FISH exper iments on normal human metaphases for an accurate cytogenetic characte rization of the human material retained in each hybrid. In addition to entire chromosomes, most hybrids were found to contain one or a few c hromosome fragments, as a result of rearrangements that had occurred i n vitro. Forty additional primary hybrids, in which conventional cytog enetic analysis failed to reveal any complete human chromosome, contai ned many human chromosome fragments. More than 300 chromosome fragment s were scored and their precise chromosomal location recorded. We show data indicating that subchromosomal painting libraries generated from these hybrids can be favorably used in the fine characterization of c hromosomal rearrangements encountered in clinical cytogenetics or in t umor cytogenetics, and in tracking chromosomal changes that occurred i n primate evolution.