Abstract
The silver-staining pattern of Chinese hamster chromosomes that show DAPI-induced undercondensed areas was studied. The Ag-staining was preceded or not by dehistonizing treatments. In both cases silver preferentially precipitates on undercondensed areas. It is suggested that this phenomenon could be compared to the silver-stainability of the active NORs during mitosis when they remain undercondensed. The possible chemical nature of the protein groups responsible for the silver-staining is discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bhorjee, J. S., 1981. Differential phosphorylation of nuclear nonhistoric high mobility group proteins HMG 14 and HMG 17 during the cell cycle. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 78: 6944–6948.
Brinkley, B. R. & Stubblefield, E., 1970. Ultrastructure and interaction of the Kinetochore and centriole in mitosis and meiosis. Adv. Cell Biol. 1: 119–185.
Brown, P. A. & Laughman, W. D., 1980. Visible light observation on the kinetochore of the Indian muntjac, Muntiacus muntjac, Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 27: 123–128.
Buys, C. H. & Osinga, J., 1980. Abundance of protein-bound sulphydryl and disulfide groups at chromosomal nucleolus organizing regions. Chromosoma 77: 1–11.
De Capoa, A., Ferraro, M., Lavia, P., Pelliccia, F. & Finazzi-Agrò, A., 1982. Silver staining of the nucleolus organizer regions (NORs) requires clusters of sulphydryl groups. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 30: 908–911.
Denton, T. E., Brooke, W. R. & Howell, W. M., 1977. A technique for the simultaneous staining of both nucleolar organizer regions and Kinetochores of human chromosomes with silver. Stain Technology 52: 311–313.
Earnshaw, W. C. & Laemmli, U. K., 1984. Silver staining the chromosome scaffold. Chromosoma 89: 186–192.
Haaf, T., Weis, H., Schindler, D. & Schmid, M., 1984. Specific silver staining of experimentally undercondensed chromosome regions. Chromosoma 90: 149–155.
Hernandez-Verdun, D., Derenzini, M. & Bouteille, M., 1982. The morphological relationship in electron microscopy between NOR-silver proteins and intranucleolar chromatin. Chromosoma 85: 461–473.
Howell, W. M., 1977. Visualization of ribosomal gene activity. Silver stains proteins associated with rRNA transcribed from oocyte chromosomes. Chromosoma 62: 361–367.
Howell, W. M. & Black, D. A., 1980. Controlled silver-staining of nucleolus organizer regions with a protective colloidal developer: a 1-step method. Experientia 36: 1014.
Howell, W. M. & Hsu, T. C., 1979. Chromosome core structure revealed by silver staining. Chromosoma 73: 61–66
Hubbell, H. R., Rothblum, L. I. & Hsu, T. C., 1979. Identification of a silver binding protein associated with the cytological silver staining of actively transcribing nucleolar regions. Cell Biol. Int. Rep. 3: 615–622.
Lischwe, M. A., Richards, L., Busch, R. K. & Busch, H., 1981. Localization of phosphoprotein C23 to nucleolar structures and to the nucleolus organizer regions. Expl Cell Res. 136: 101–109.
Matsumoto, Y., Yasuda, H., Mita, S., Marunouchi, T. & Yamada, M., 1980. Evidence for the involvement of H1 historic phophorylation in chromosome condensation. Nature 284: 181–183.
Medina, F. J., Risueno, M. C., Sanchez-Pina, M. A. & Fernán-dez-Gómez, M. E., 1983. A study on nucleolar silver staining in plant cells. The role of argyrophilic proteins in nucleolar physiology. Chromosoma 88: 149–155.
Miller, D. A., Dev, V. G., Tantravahi, R. & Miller, O. J., 1976. Suppression of human nucleolus organizer activity in mousehuman somatic hybrid cells. Expl Cell Res. 101: 235–243.
Olert, J., Sawatzki, G., Kling, H. & Gebauer, J., 1979. Cytological and histochemical studies on the mechanism of the selective silver staining of nucleolus organizer regions (NORs). Histochemistry 60: 91–99.
Pathak, S. & Hsu, T. C., 1979. Silver-stained structures in mammalian meiotic prophase. Chromosoma 70: 195–203.
Paulson, J. R. & Laemmli, U. K., 1977. The structure of histone-depleted methaphase chromosomes. Cell 12: 817–828.
Raman, R. & Sperling, K., 1981. Patterns of silver staining on NORs of prematurely condensed muntjac chromosomes following RNA inhibition. Expl Cell Res. 135: 373–378.
Rocchi, A., Di Castro, M. & Prantera, G., 1979. Effects of DAPI on human leukocytes in vitro. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 23: 250–254.
Rocchi, A., Di Castro, M. & Prantera, G., 1980. Effect of DAPI on Chinese hamster chromosomes. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 27: 70–72.
Satya-Prakash, K. L., Hsu, T. C. & Pathak, S., 1980. Behavior of the chromosome core in mitosis and meiosis. Chromosoma 81: 1–8.
Schwarzacher, H. G., Mikelsaar, A. V. & Schnedl, W., 1978. The nature of the Ag-staining of nucleolus organizer regions. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 20: 24–29.
Sumner, A. T., 1983. F The role of protein sulphydryls and disulphides in chromosome structure and condensation. In: Kew Chromosome Conference II, Eds P. E. Brandham and M. D. Bennett, pp. 19.
Varley, J. M. & Morgan, G. T., 1978. Silver staining of the lam pbrush chromosomes of Triturus cristatus carnifex. Chromosoma 67: 233–244.
Williams, M. A., Kleinschmidt, J. A., Krohne, G. & Franke, W. W., 1982. Argyrophilic nuclear and nucleolur proteins of Xenopus laevis oocytes identified by gel electrophoresis. Expl Cell Res. 137: 341–351.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rocchi, A., Montagna, P., Lanza, V. et al. The correlation between silver-staining and DAPI-induced chromosome undercondensation. Genetica 68, 145–149 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02424411
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02424411