Standardization of karyotyping plant chromosomes by a newly developed chromosome image analyzing system (CHIAS)

A chromosome image analyzing system (CHIAS) has been developed especially for plant chromosomes. A standard karyotyping method using CHIAS is also described. The characteristics of the CHIAS are as follows: 1) the main objects of the analysis are plant chromosomes, 2) it constructs a man-machine interactive system to put researchers' decisions into the analytical process, 3) it can automate the routine part of an analysis as much as possible, and 4) it digitizes the image information of chromosomes and analyzes them. Software for karyotype analysis of plant chromosomes has been developed. Thus, in the case of rye chromosomes, it is possible to get quantitative data for all chromosomes and a karyogram within 25 min.