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Analysis of the nucleolar organizing regions in the ant Tapinoma nigerrimum (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Heredity volume 78, pages 578–582 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

This study analyses the NORs of Tapinoma nigerrimum, a species that, as known from previous studies, has various chromosomes which carry a NOR site. The analysis was made by a combination of three methods: silver nitrate staining, in situ hybridization with fluorescein- or digoxigenin-labelled probes, and staining with the CG-specific fluorochrome chromomycin A3. The silver staining technique showed an Ag-positive region on chromosome 6 and on various other chromosomes. However, the application of in situ hybridization techniques showed only one positive signal in the proximal region of the short arm of chromosome 6 of T. nigerrimum. Similar results were observed by CMA banding. The absence of rDNA genes or the presence of only a small number of these, not detectable with the above probes, might explain the absence of hybridization signal in the remaining chromosomes.

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Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biología Experimental, Area de Genética, Universidad de Jaén, Jaén, 23071, Spain

    P Lorite, A E Aránega, F Luque & T Palomeque

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  1. P Lorite
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  2. A E Aránega
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  3. F Luque
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  4. T Palomeque
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Correspondence to T Palomeque.

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Lorite, P., Aránega, A., Luque, F. et al. Analysis of the nucleolar organizing regions in the ant Tapinoma nigerrimum (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Heredity 78, 578–582 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1997.96

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1997.96

Keywords

  • Ag-NORs
  • ants
  • fluorescent CMA bands
  • in situ hybridization

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