Automatic karyotyping of plant chromosomes by imaging techniques.

Chromosomes of Crepis capillaris (L.) Wallr. were analyzed using a newly developed chromosome image analyzing system, CHIAS-mini. The CHIAS-mini is a desktop system which consists of an ordinary 16-bit personal computer and an image processor as the main frames. Data acquisition, karyotyping and idiogramming of the plant chromosomes were automatically carried out with some manual interaction. The data obtained were comparable to those obtained manually and by a standard image analyzer already developed.