Karyotype, constitutive heterochromatin and nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) in Belosacris coccineipes (Acrididae-Leptysminae)

Abstract

Several techniques including C-banding, fluorochromes and silver staining were used to obtain information about heterochromatin patterns in the grasshopper B. coccineipes. Conventional staining showed a karyotype with 2n = 23 chromosomes in males and 2n = 24 in females, as well as XO:XX sex determination and acrotelocentric chromosomes. The medium-sized X chromosome was heteropycnotic positive at the beginning of prophase I and negative in metaphase I. C-banding revealed heterochromatic blocks in the pericentromeric regions of all chromosomes. Silver nitrate staining in this species showed three small bivalents (S9-S11) as nucleolar organizers with NORs located in the pericentromeric regions. CMA3-positive blocks were seen in pericentromeric regions of pairs M6, S9, S10 and S11. Sequential staining with CMA3/AgNO3 revealed homology between the CMA3-positive bands and NORs of the bivalents S9, S10 and S11. The CMA3-positive block of the bivalent M6 could represent a latent secondary NOR. The results obtained permit us to distinguish two categories of the constitutive heterochromatin in B. coccineipes.