Classical and Molecular Cytogenetics: The Principle and Application of Involved Techniques

Abstract

Cytogenetics is the study of chromosomes. The involved techniques have an indispensable role in chromosome aberration detection. Taking the invention of in situ hybridization (ISH) as a dividing line, all techniques are categorized into classical and molecular cytogenetics. Typical techniques in classical cytogenetics are chromosome banding and flow karyotyping. Branches of ISH, such as fluorescence in situ hybridization, spectral karyotyping, and comparative genomic hybridization, are often classified as molecular cytogenetics. All of these techniques have provided researchers with either quantitative or qualitative data to aid in the analysis of chromosomes and have made significant contributions to the fields of prenatal detection, prognostic, diagnostics, oncology, etc.