HUMAN-CHROMOSOME PAINTING PROBES USED TO MEASURE CHROMOSOME TRANSLOCATIONS IN NONHUMAN-PRIMATES - EXTRAPOLATIONS FROM MONKEY TO MAN

Chromosome painting with a probe specific for human chromosome 4 was u sed to 'paint' monkey chromosomes in order to measure the persistence of translocations in peripheral blood lymphocytes of a rhesus monkey e xposed to ionising radiation more than 25 years ago. The human probe p ainted the entire length of two large rhesus and cynomolgus monkey chr omosomes with no cross hybridisation to other chromosomes, facilitatin g rapid detection of chromosome translocations in monkeys. The translo cation frequency measured in one monkey was significantly higher than that for unirradiated animals. The ability to use human probes to obta in cytogenetic data from Macaca species irradiated years previously or exposed to chemical clastogens makes this primate genus an excellent model for studying genetic damage.