Chromosome studies of Mustela putorius in tissue culture.

Abstract

Tissue cultures from skin, lung, and heart were made from a male polecat (Mustela putorius putorius L.) and at a later time from a female ferret (Mustela putorius furo L.). In both cases the cultures from heart and lung died after a few passages and the skin cultures were the only ones that could be used for further studies. An idiogram was calculated from measurements of 10 karyotypes of each subspecies. No morphological differences between the karyotypes of the two subspecies were found. The chromosome number was 2n = 40 with 38 autosomes and XX/XY sex chromosomes. The m-group included 5 pairs of autosomes, the X and the small Y-chromosome. A secondary constriction was regularly found in one of the homologues of the second smallest pair of the t-group. The chromosome number in the skin cultures was studied with regular intervals during 25 passages. After passage 21, soon before the cultures died, there was an increase in the proportion of tetraploid cells to some 85–90 %.