ABSTRACT
Fukui (1985, 1986) described an imaging method for the analysis of plant chromosomes. Fukui and Mukai (1988) identified nine pairs of Atriplex rosea chromosomes (2n = 18) by focusing on the uneven chromosomal condensation that appears uniquely on individual chromosomes at the prometaphase stage. Previously, no method, other than the digital imaging method, could quantify the density parameter, making this the first report of the digital identification of plant chromosomes by uneven condensation at the plant prometaphase chromosome. Using this method, Fukui and Iijima (1991) objectively identified all 12 pairs of rice chromosomes based on the condensation pattern (CP) of each rice (Oryza sativa ssp. japonca) chromosome. The efficacy of a combination of digital imaging and CP (density profile at the axis of each chromatid) analysis in identifying individual chromosomes and in the development of quantitative chromosome maps has been demonstrated unequivocally in rapeseed (Kamisugi et al., 1998), spinach (Ito et al., 2000a), Arabidopsis thaliana (Ito et al., 2000b), Lotus japonicus (Ito et al., 2000c), and red clover (Kataoka et al., 2012).
