Utility of Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization in Cytogenetic Analysis

Conventional comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), high-resolution oligonucleotide, and BAC array CGH have modernized the field of cytogenetics to enable access to unbalanced genomic aberrations such as whole or partial chromosomal gains and losses. The basic principle of array CGH involves hybridizing differentially labeled proband/test (e.g., tumor) and normal reference DNA on an array of oligonucleotide or BAC clones instead of normal metaphases as in conventional CGH. The sub-megabase resolution tiling BAC arrays are extremely useful for the analysis of acquired aberrations in cancer genomes. Array CGH can be extremely useful to identify the chromosomal makeup of marker and ring chromosomes, to define/delineate the precise location/bands involved in structural aberrations and the accurate localization of translocation breakpoints in both simple and complex karyotypes either alone or in combination with standard karyotype analysis.