CYTOGENETIC STUDIES IN THE GREEK BUFALLO (BUBALUS BUBALIS)

Ioana Nicolae, A. Lymperopoulos, E. Nistor, V. Christodoulou, V.A. Bampidis, D.M. Vidmichi

Abstract
   The main purpose of this work was to describe the karyotype of the Greek buffalo. Cytogenetic studies were carried out on a group of 42 Greek buffaloes (21females and 21 males) raised in 5 Greek farms. The collected blood samples arrived to Romanian cytogenetic laboratory in the same day and two types of cell cultures were performed: normal cultures and cultures with addition of analog bases during the last hours of incubation to get improved R-banding patterns and SCEs test. Slides from both cultures were stained with acridine orange or giemsa. The methaphase plates were studied under a Nikon microscope, captured with a CCD camera and were processed by a specific image software. The RBA-banding karyotype for male (2n=50,XY) and female (2n=50,XX) have been done. The present study revealed that 21 males and 20 females had normal karyotype and one female was found with chromosomal instability, showing frequent mono- and bi-chromatidic breakages on autosomes and heterosomes. For each investigated animal the cytogenetic analysis bulletin has been delivered.

Key words: greek buffalo; karyotype; chromosomal instabi