Electronic Journal of Biology

Heterochromatin Distribution Pattern in Aid of Understanding Plant Species Inter-Relationships

Direct staining using Chromomycin A3 (CMA) and DAPI (DAPI) fluorochromes has been widely adopted for studying the heterochromatin in various plant taxa. CMA and DAPI show preferential binding for GC- and AT-rich heterochromatin regions respectively and can divulge the amount, type, location of heterochromatin regions and thus revealing the relative AT- and/or GCrich fractions in the chromatin. This short commentary documents the efficacy of CMA and DAPI binding pattern in comparative analysis of relative AT- and/ or GC-rich repetitive heterochromatin fraction(s), thus giving an insight about species diversification and evolutionary pattern in many plant taxa besides helping in assessment of genetic fidelity in micropropagated plants.

Author(s):

Judith Mary Lamo, Soibam Purnima Devi, Kheisham Merita Devi, Shamurailatpam Anju, Satyawada Rama Rao

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