Minute chromatin bodies in a murine in vitro cell line.

A murine anaplastic sarcoma and an in vitro cell line established from it were studied by the TG banding technique. The neoplasm originated in a BALB/c mouse inoculated with human tumor cells. Microchromatin bodies were found in 100% of the karyotypes in the original tumor and in the 120 in vitro passages. A long marker chromosome, also observed in all metaphases, was interpreted as a translocation in tandem of a No. 16 chromosome into a No. 1; this involved loss of the centromeric part of chromosome No. 1.