In the translocation (8;21)(q22;q22) associated with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), part of the long arm of chromosome 8 is reciprocally translocated onto chromosome 21. At the molecular level the translocation results in the fusion of the 5' region of the AML1 gene on chromosome 21 and almost the entire CDR gene (also ETO or MTG8) on chromosome 8. The translocation can be demonstrated by techniques such as Southern blot analysis of DNA and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of mRNA. Neither of these methods demonstrates the translocation in individual cells. To detect the translocation at the single cell level, we used two probes, a cosmid clone containing the first five exons of AML1 and a P1 clone containing the entire CDR gene. Hybridization of the two probes to the distal and proximal side of the translocation breakpoint on chromosome 8 was expected to highlight the 8q-derivative in an interphase cell. To demonstrate the ability to identify the translocation in interphase cells using two-color FISH, these two probes were hybridized simultaneously to the Kasumi-1 cell line containing the 8;21 translocation and to t(8;21)-positive leukemic cells from a patient. Each probe was detected with a different color so that their relationship in the sample could be determined within the same interphase cell. Simultaneous hybridization of the CDR and AML1 probes to interphase cells resulted in one red and one green hybridization signal randomly located in the cell, from the hybridization to the normal chromosomes (8, 21), and one red-green pair of signals from the close hybridization of the two probes to the fusion gene on the derivative 8q-chromosome, indicating the translocation. This technique may be a useful complement for the analysis of the t(8;21), since critical information can be obtained from samples not suited for RT-PCR and conventional cytogenetic techniques. In addition, it may be useful for the assessment of minimal residual disease where RT-PCR is of limited value.