Chromosome C-banding in Mus musculus L.1766 Strains Shows a Fixed Position for the Centromere and Variable Amounts in Different Populations

Three subspecies of Mus musculus have been recognized in Iran so far. The house mouse (genus Mus, species Mus musculus) are recognized for their highly conserved morphology and chromosomal structure, but some chromosomal characters offer accurate taxonomic markers in this species that has been shown any unambiguous diagnostic morphological traits. Among the chromosomal characters, centromeric heterochromatin is more useful to identify mouse subspecies and populations. In this study, Samples were collected from 27 stations in Iran and study was performed by the centromeric heterochromatin banding (C-banding). Results indicated that all samples had 40 acrocentric chromosomes and all chromosomes had fixed position for the centromere. The strains had the same amount of C-banding material on homologous chromosomes but showed variation in the amount on different populations.