C-Banding of Plant Chromosomes

C-banding visualizes regions of chromosomes containing constitutive heterochromatin. It creates distinct patterns along the chromosome length and allows precise chromosome identification if C-bands are present in sufficient numbers. It is performed on chromosome spreads generated from fixed material, usually root tips or anthers. While there are numerous lab-specific modifications, all methods share the same steps: acidic hydrolysis, DNA denaturation in strong bases (usually saturated aqueous solution of barium hydroxide), washes in saline solution, and staining in Giemsa-type stain in a phosphate buffer. The method can be used for a wide range of cytogenetic tasks, from karyotyping, meiotic chromosome pairing analyses, to large-scale screening and selection of specific chromosome constructs.