Non-Random Distribution of Chromosomes in Metaphase Figures from Cultured Human Leucocytes I. The Peripheral Location of the Y Chromosome

Abstract

Flattened metaphase figures were obtained by squashing or air-drying cells from human leucocyte cultures that had been treated with colchicine and hypotonic sodium citrate prior to fixation. In such metaphase figures the Y chromosome was at the periphery of the figure more often than chance expectation and more often than the chromosome pairs 1, 2, or 16 or the chromosome groups 13–15, 17–18, 19–20, or 21–22. The Y chromosome was further from the center of circular metaphase figures than the mean value of all the chromosomes or the chromosome pairs 1, 2, or 3 or the chromosome groups 4–5, 6–12+X, 19–20 or 21–22.