A comparative analysis of the karyotypes of Cricetus cricetus and Cricetulus griseus

Abstract

This study presents a comparison of the mitotic chromosomes of the two species of hamsters Cricetus cricetus (European hamster) and Cricetulus griseus (Chinese hamster), which have the same chromosome number of 2n=22. — G-banding procedure reveals striking similarities in both karyotypes and gives the possibility to analyse structural changes so that two examples for Robertsonian rearrangement can be observed. — A remarkable kind of difference between the two karyotypes becomes obvious after C-banding procedure. While Cricetus cricetus shows a large amount of predominantly centromeric heterochromatin, in Cricetulus griseus C-bands are less conspicuous, and a few chromosomes do not exhibit any centromeric heterochromatin at all.