Non-random association of trypsin-banded human acrocentric chromosomes

Summary This paper deals with a computer-aided study of the associations between acrocentric chromosomes as well as between those other chromosomes which in our investigations were revealed to be significantly closer to each other than random. The chromosome pairs were identified by a trypsinbanding technique. The method used has been elaborated previously with the specific aim of determining associations in a manner that avoids all subjective criteria.The tendency for association between homologous chromosomes is in decreasing order: 21 and 13>1>14, 18 and 19>17. Among the nonhomologous acrocentric chromosomes the significant tendencies for associations are between D-D: 13–14>13–15>14–15; between D-G: 13–21>14–21>13–22>15–22.The implication of the different tendencies to associate are dicussed in terms of aetiology of numerical and structural chromosome abnormalities.