Microdissection based high resolution multicolor banding for all 24 human chromosomes.

The multicolor-banding (MCB) approach allows the differentiation of chromosome region specific areas at the band and sub-band level and is based on region-specific microdissection libraries producing changing fluorescence intensity ratios along the chromosomes. The latter are used to assign different pseudocolors to specific chromosomal regions. We present the complete set of 138 region-specific microdissection libraries for the entire human genome and the resulting MCB patterns for all human chromosomes at the 450-550 band level. In the present work, the creation and handling of the microdissection libraries is detailed for the first time. Additionally, the unique possibilities of the MCB technique to adjust the pseudocolor bands according to the necessities of the studied case is presented in exemplarity. In conclusion, the MCB-technique is a high resolution alternative to other FISH based chromosome banding approaches and suited to clarify, which changes appeared in complex chromosomal rearrangements.