Fluorescent in situ hybridisation to amphioxus chromosomes

We describe an efficient protocol for mapping genes and other DNA sequences to amphioxus chromosomes using fluorescent in situ hybridisation. We apply this method to identify the number and location of ribosomal DNA gene clusters and telomere sequences in metaphase spreads of Branchiostoma floridae. We also describe how the locations of two single copy genes can be mapped relative to each other, and demonstrate this by mapping an amphioxus Pax gene relative to a homologue of the Notch gene. These methods have great potential for performing comparative genomics between amphioxus and vertebrates.