Precise identification of chicken chromosomes in the lampbrush form using chromosome painting probes.

Chromosome painting probes specific for macrochromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and Z were applied to both mitotic and lampbrush chromosomes of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). Five autosomal macrobivalents and sex chromosome Z in the lampbrush phase were identified and their correspondence to the target chromosomes in the metaphase of mitosis was shown. Nascent transcripts on lateral loops of the target lampbrush chromosome were intensively labelled when the hybridization was performed without RNase A treatment according to the DNA/(DNA + RNA) hybridization protocol.