Computerized chromosome identification by aid of the quinacrine mustard fluorescence technique

Abstract

The identification of the eight chromosome types in the C-group in the human metaphase plate offers very great difficulties with conventional methods. The fluorescence patterns after quinacrine mustard treatment are, however, clearly different for all the chromosome types. In order to test whether these differences between patterns are statistically significant eight sets of patterns, one set from each chromosome type, have been subjected to Fourier analysis in a computer and the statistical validity of the individual types of patterns calculated. The result was that the pattern types are clearly separated significantly in a statistical sense. Furthermore, the observations show that the pattern curves can be characterized by a relatively low number of Fourier parameters, making automatic machine recognition and classification of the chromosomes easy. For the other human chromosome groups the situation is still simpler. Work towards still further automatization of the chromosome sorting in human metaphases is in progress.