Different kinds of heterochromatin in higher plant chromosomes

ABSTRACT After the use of different Giemsa staining techniques, variations in chromosome banding patterns have often been observed in animal chromosomes. Such staining differences are usually interpreted to indicate that there is more than one type of heterochromatin in many animal chromosomes. Using two differential Giemsa staining techniques we have found different staining patterns in the chromosomes of two higher plants, Allium cepa and Ornithogalum virens. Furthermore, pericentric heterochromatin that occurs so commonly in animal chromosomes was specifically Giemsa stained in O. virens. These results suggest the basic similarity of higher plant and animal chromosomes.