Quantitative analysis of human chromosome segregation in man-mouse somatic cell hybrids.

The presumed random and independent process of human chromosome segregation in man-mouse somatic cell hybrids was studied. The results of chromosome analysis on 196 cells from 15 related hybrid strains have provided the first convincing evidence that segregation of human chromosomes can be nonindependent and often concordant. Different human chromosomes were not retained with equal frequency in these hybrid clones. Some were present in 80% of all the cells, whereas others appeared in less than 10% of the same cells. Linear regression analysis was used to test for correlation of the frequencies of all pair-wise combinations of human chromosomes present in these hybrid clones. Twenty-two of 136 possible correlations were statistically significant, indicating that concordant segregation of particular pairs of human chromosomes is a rather frequent occurrence.