a fluorescent stain for chromosomes that produces specific banding patterns for each pair of homologous chromosomes; centromeric regions of human chromosomes 3, 4, and 13 are specifically stained, as are satellites of some acrocentric chromosomes and the end of the long axon of the Y chromosome; banding patterns are similar to those obtained with G-banding stain; similar fluorescent stain results are seen with the antibiotics adriamycin and daunomycin, as well as tertiary dyes (e.g., butyl proflavine and DAPI), and the bisbenzimidazole dye Hoechst 33258. SYN: quinacrine chromosome banding stain.
