The distribution of C-bands in canine transmissible venereal tumor cells.

Colchicine-arrested metaphase preparations, derived from canine transmissible venereal tumor (TVT) cells grown in culture, were characterized based on the occurrence and distribution of constitutive heterochromatin. Analysis of the data with regard to the distribution of C-bands in the pericentric, interstitial and telomeric segments revealed a nonrandom distribution along the arms of many chromosomes with the bulk of the bands occurring in the centromeric region. The frequency of C-banded regions differed from those reported for normal dog cells and both primary and transplanted tumors. These results suggest that similar nondifferentially-stained TVT karyotypes do not necessarily exhibit identical distribution of constitutive heterochromatin.