Molecular characterization of "inverted" pericentromeric heterochromatin of chromosome 3.

Inversion of the pericentromeric region of human chromosome 3 [inv (3) (p11q11.2)] is a rare event. Initially, this inversion was identified with staining for Q-bands by fluorescence using quinacrine (QFQ) and later characterized with staining for C-bands by CBG technique. The molecular methods of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and AluI/Giemsa and TaqI/Giemsa techniques were utilized. The findings suggest that the variable band q11.2 on chromosome 3 contains alphoid DNA sequences, which appear to be similar to those identified by conventional methods in the centromeric region (band p11).