#Id: 4044
#Unit 2. Cellular Organization
In G-banding, chromosomes are first gently heated and then exposed to Giemsa stain; this DNA dye preferentially darkens certain regions to produce alternating dark and light G bands. Each G band is a very large segment of DNA from 1 to 10 Mb in length, containing many loops. With high-resolution G-banding techniques, a standard diploid human karyotype of 46 chromosomes is seen to contain hundreds of dark and light G bands. Not used in plants.