[Karyological characteristics of cell sublines of the kidney of the kangaroo rat and of skin fibroblasts of the Indian muntjac].

A study was made of the karyotypic structure of sublines derived from the kangaroo rat's kidney (NBL-3) and skin fibroblasts of the Indian muntjac, available in the cell culture bank of the Institute of Cytology Acad. Sci. USSR. A comparative karyologic analysis was made of subline NBL-3 both contaminated with mycoplasma (NBLK) and decontaminated with antibiotics (NBLD). Authentic differences in cell distribution according to chromosome number in NBLK and NBLD variants were shown. Modal numbers of chromosomes are 11 and 17, respectively. The modal number for the Indian muntjac cell subline (MT) is 9. 60-80% of the cells had an identical karyotype (the main structural variant of the karyotype is MSVK). Using the G-banding technique, all the MSVK variants were shown to display constant karyotypes. In NBLK there are 5 pairs of homologous chromosomes and one metacentric. In NBLD, the number of homologous chromosomes increased in all the groups (hypotriploid karyotype). In subline MT 3 homologous chromosomes were found in groups I and IV, 2 in group III in addition to one X-chromosome. A comparison with the Indian muntjac karyotype showed the absence of marker chromosomes in MT. The analysis of additional SVK shows that the deviations from MSVK are caused mostly by changes in the number of homologous chromosomes within the groups. A study of the frequency of deviations in chromosome numbers observed in the groups from MSVK showed that different chromosomes were involved in karyotypic changes in the same way in the "low-chromosome" variants of NBLK and MT, and in different ways in NBLD. A comparison of the "premycoplasmic" variants of line NBL-3 with NBLK shows no differences in the parameters studied.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)