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Heterochromatin differentiation in the characid fish Astyanax scabripinnis

lssakar Lima Souza; Orlando Moreira-Filho; Pedro Manoel Galetti Junior

Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Caixa Postal 676, 13565-905 São Carlos, SP, Brasil. Phone: (55) 16 274 8309. Fax: (55) 16 274 8306. E-mail: galettip@power.ufscar.br. Send correspondence to P.M.G.Jr.

ABSTRACT

Chromosomes of a small characid fish, Astyanax scabripinnis, were submitted to several types of chromosome banding. Three different types of C-band positive heterochromatin were detected: i) minute centromeric and pericentromeric blocks in most of the chromosomes in the complement; ii) clearly visible blocks on the short arm of pair No. 18, corresponding to Ag-NOR sites, and conspicuous fluorescent chromomycin A₃ (CMA₃⁺) and mitramycin A (MM⁺), and iii) heterochromatic regions strongly stained with Giemsa after C-banding, which were distamycin A/4'-6-diamidine-2-phenylindole (DA/DAPI^-) and MM /DAN^-, which showed no differentiation by silver nitrate, CMA₃, MM, or DAPI without counterstaining. The equilocal distribution of these DA/DAPI^- heterochromatins suggests a common origin for these chromosome segments in A. scabripinnis.

Keywords: heterochromatin; characid fish; Astyanax scabripinnis.

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