Molecular cytogenetics

Molecular cytogenetics involves the combination of molecular biology and cytogenetics. In general this involves the use of a series of techniques referred to as fluorescence in situ hybridization, or FISH, in which DNA probes are labeled with different colored fluorescent tags to visualize one or more specific regions of the genome. FISH can either performed as a direct approach to metaphase chromosomes or interphase nuclei, or as an indirect approach, which involves the use of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis to assess the entire genome for imbalanced chromosomal material.