title: G-banding patterns of the chromosomes of amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense.
abstract: Chromosome banding study remains lacking in amphioxus heretofore. This paper reports the G-band patterns of the metaphase chromosomes of amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense, the first description and numbering of the karyotyped bands in a cephalochordate. G-banding results show that four out of the ten second pair chromosomes examined are heteromorphic, while the remaining ones (6/10) are homomorphic. In contrast, the other 17 pair chromosomes are all homomorphic. These broadly support our previous suggestion that the chromosomes No. 2 are a pair of sex-chromosomes. G-banding method stains positively 65.5% of the chromosome surface, and a total of 149 G-bands (77 positive, 65 negative and 7 variable) has been recorded in the 17 autosomes and the dimorphic chromosomes 2A' and 2A.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Biology, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, PR China.
authors.forename: Changliu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shicui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jiansong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002816:Chordata, Nonvertebrate / Q000235:genetics*; D002871:Chromosome Banding; D002875:Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics