Skip to main content
PMC home page
American Journal of Human Genetics logoLink to American Journal of Human Genetics
. 1981 Jan;33(1):67–76.

Familial silver staining patterns of human nucleolus organizer regions (NORs).

E F Taylor, P A Martin-DeLeon
PMCID: PMC1684871  PMID: 6162381

Abstract

The silver staining patterns of the nucleolus organizer regions (NORs), an indication of rDNA transcriptional activity, were studied in metaphases from lymphocyte cultures of 20 karyotypically normal members of three families selected for a large sibling number or a monozygotic twin pair. Quinacrine polymorphic markers and bands were used to identify the acrocentrics and to determine their parental origin. A comparison of the silver staining frequencies among siblings and between parent and child indicated no significant differences for any acrocentric in the twin pairs and significant differences (P less than .05) for only one of the 20 acrocentrics segregating in each of two families. These two acrocentrics had short stalks with very small silver deposits (AgNORs). The mean size of the AgNOR, based on a relative score, was not significantly different (P greater than .05) for each homolog between the twin pair and in approximately 70% of the acrocentrics shared by members of the one family analyzed. The frequency with which a particular chromosome was silver stained demonstrated a significant correlation (r2 = .732) with the size of AgNOR. There was a close correlation (r2 = .609) between stalk length and the size of the AgNOR. We conclude that the frequency of silver staining and the mean size of the AgNOR are characteristics inherent in a particular chromosome carried from one generation to the next.

Full text

PDF
67

Images in this article

72Fig. 1
on p.72

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bloom S. E., Goodpasture C. An improved technique for selective silver staining of nucleolar organizer regions in human chromosomes. Hum Genet. 1976 Oct 28;34(2):199–206. doi: 10.1007/BF00278889. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Croce C. M., Talavera A., Basilico C., Miller O. J. Suppression of production of mouse 28S ribosomal RNA in mouse-human hybrids segregating mouse chromosomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Feb;74(2):694–697. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.2.694. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Goodpasture C., Bloom S. E. Visualization of nucleolar organizer regions im mammalian chromosomes using silver staining. Chromosoma. 1975 Nov 20;53(1):37–50. doi: 10.1007/BF00329389. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Howell W. M., Denton T. E., Diamond J. R. Differential staining of the satellite regions of human acrocentric chromosomes. Experientia. 1975 Feb 15;31(2):260–262. doi: 10.1007/BF01990741. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Marković V. D., Worton R. G., Berg J. M. Evidence for the inheritance of silver-stained nucleolus organizer regions. Hum Genet. 1978 Mar 17;41(2):181–187. doi: 10.1007/BF00273100. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. McCracken A. A., Daly P. A., Zolnick M. R., Clark A. M. Twins and Q-banded chromosome polymorphisms. Hum Genet. 1978 Dec 29;45(3):253–258. doi: 10.1007/BF00278724. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Mikelsaar A. V., Schmid M., Krone W., Schwarzacher H. G., Schnedl W. Frequency of Ag-stained nucleolus organizer regions in the acrocentric chromosomes of man. Hum Genet. 1977 Jun 10;37(1):73–77. doi: 10.1007/BF00293774. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mikelsaar A. V., Schwarzacher H. G., Schnedl W., Wagenbichler P. Inheritance of Ag-stainability of nucleolus organizer regions. Investigations in 7 families with trisomy 21. Hum Genet. 1977 Sep 22;38(2):183–188. doi: 10.1007/BF00527401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Miller D. A., Breg W. R., Warburton D., Dev V. G., Miller O. J. Regulation of rRNA gene expression in a human familial 14p+ marker chromosome. Hum Genet. 1978 Sep 19;43(3):289–297. doi: 10.1007/BF00278836. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Miller O. J., Miller D. A., Dev V. G., Tantravahi R., Croce C. M. Expression of human and suppression of mouse nucleolus organizer activity in mouse-human somatic cell hybrids. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976 Dec;73(12):4531–4535. doi: 10.1073/pnas.73.12.4531. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Phillips R. B. Inheritance of Q and C band polymorphisms. Can J Genet Cytol. 1977 Sep;19(3):405–413. doi: 10.1139/g77-044. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Robinson J. A., Buckton K. E., Spowart G., Newton M., Jacobs P. A., Evans H. J., Hill R. The segregation of human chromosome polymorphisms. Ann Hum Genet. 1976 Jul;40(1):113–121. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-1809.1976.tb00169.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Schwarzacher H. G., Mikelsaar A. V., Schnedl W. The nature of the Ag-staining of nucleolus organizer regions. Electron- and light-microscopic studies on human cells in interphase, mitosis, and meiosis. Cytogenet Cell Genet. 1978;20(1-6):24–39. doi: 10.1159/000130837. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Tantravahi R., Miller D. A., Dev V. G., Miller O. J. Detection of nucleolus organizer regions in chromosomes of human, chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan and gibbon. Chromosoma. 1976 Jun 30;56(1):15–27. doi: 10.1007/BF00293725. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Van Dyke D. L., Palmer C. G., Nance W. E., Yu P. L. Chromosome polymorphism and twin zygosity. Am J Hum Genet. 1977 Sep;29(5):431–447. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Varley J. M. Patterns of silver staining of human chromosomes. Chromosoma. 1977 May 23;61(3):207–214. doi: 10.1007/BF00292805. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Warburton D., Henderson A. S. Sequential silver staining and hybridization in situ on nucleolus organizing regions in human cells. Cytogenet Cell Genet. 1979;24(3):168–175. doi: 10.1159/000131373. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Human Genetics are provided here courtesy of American Society of Human Genetics

RESOURCES