Chromosome Sorting by Flow Cytometry: Production of DNA Libraries and Gene Mapping

Bivariate flow cytometry is now able to resolve the majority of chromosomes of the human karyotype (1 ,2 and Chapter 12 ). When this is coupled to a sorting facility, specific chromosomes can be separated and purified in small, but useful quantities. These chromosomes have been used for the production of chromosome-specific DNA libraries (3 ); each human chromosome, sorted from lymphoblastoid cell lines or somatic cell hybrids, has been cloned into A, or plasmid vectors, and these libraries are now available from the American Type Culture Collection (4 ). Chromosome abnormalities, such as balanced translocations, deletion, or marker chromosomes, can also be distinguished in a flow karyotype (5 ,6 ), and these have provided alternative starting material for more restricted DNA libraries (7 ,8 ).