The Use of Polymerase Chain Reaction for Chromosome Assignment

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach to chromosome assignment consists of analyzing the profile of specific amplification products of the gene of interest using genomic DNAs from a panel of somatic cell hybrids as templates (see Fig 1 ). Each hybrid somatic cell line contains the normal complement of chromosomes of one species, along with one or more additional chromosomes from a second species (1 ,2 ). The PCR approach has obvious advantages over the conventional Southern blotting method of chromosome assignment, including speed, sensitivity, and conservation of the genomic DNAs, which are difficult and labor intensive to generate.