Lateral asymmetry of constitutive heterochromatin in human chromosomes.

Variations in lateral asymmetry of constitutive heterochromatin were studied in 30 normal individuals with reference to the chromosomal regions 1q12, 9q12, 15p11, 16q12 and Yq12. The technique consisted of growing human lymphocytes for one cell cycle in BrdU, staining with 33258 Hoechst, exposing them to UV light, treating them with 2 x SSC, and staining with Giemsa. This procedure revealed asymmetric staining in the region of constitutive heterochromatin in these chromosomal regions. Chromosomes 15, 16, and Y showed simple lateral asymmetry, whereas chromosome 1 showed both simple and compound asymmetry. In 15 cases, compound lateral asymmetry was evident in both homologues of chromosome 1, 12 cases showed compound lateral asymmetry in one homologue and simple lateral asymmetry in both the homologues. The centromere region of chromosome 9 stained symmetrically with this technique. The lateral asymmetry is presumed to reflect the strand bias in the distribution of thymine in satellite DNA fractions.