Human Heredity 11th Edition by Michael Cummings

Exercise 4

Originally, karyotypic analysis relied only on size and centromere placement to identify chromosomes. Because many chromosomes are similar in size and centromere placement, the identification of individual chromosomes was difficult, and chromosomes were placed into eight groups, identified by the letters A to G. Today, each human chromosome can be readily identified.
a. What technical advances led to this improvement in chromosome identification?
b. List two ways this improvement can be implemented.
c. What clinical information does a karyotype provide?