Detection of the heteromorphic spectrum of heterochromatin in the human genome by in situ digestion using restriction endonuclease AluI.

A battery of selective banding techniques has been utilized to identify the heteromorphic markers in the human genome. The recent addition of the AluI/Giemsa (G)-technique has helped not only in identifying the variable sites, but in characterizing their heteromorphic spectra. In the present investigation, we classified the pericentromeric heterochromatin by the AluI/G-technique by its size and position using 50 normal individuals and suggested the potential uses of this banding technique over earlier methods.