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The nucleus provides a site for genetic transcription that is segregated from the location of translation in the cytoplasm, allowing levels of gene regulation that are not available to prokaryotes. The main function of the cell nucleus is to control gene expression and mediate the replication of DNA during the cell cycle. [1]: 171
Each human cell contains around two metres of DNA, which must be tightly folded to fit inside the cell nucleus. However, in order for the cell to function, proteins must be able to access the sequence information contained within the DNA, in spite of its tightly-packed nature. Hence, the cell has a number of mechanisms in place to control how ...
A model of an atomic nucleus showing it as a compact bundle of protons (red) and neutrons (blue), the two types of nucleons.In this diagram, protons and neutrons look like little balls stuck together, but an actual nucleus (as understood by modern nuclear physics) cannot be explained like this, but only by using quantum mechanics.
Whenever this unoccupied level is the next after a full shell, the only way to excite the nucleus is to raise one nucleon across the gap, thus spending a large amount of energy. Otherwise, if the highest occupied energy level lies in a partly filled shell, much less energy is required to raise a nucleon to a higher state in the same shell.
All protons in the same level (n) have the same parity (either +1 or −1), and since the parity of a pair of particles is the product of their parities, an even number of protons from the same level (n) will have +1 parity. Thus, the total angular momentum of the eight protons and the first eight neutrons is zero, and their total parity is +1.
The atomic nucleus is a bound system of protons and neutrons. The spatial extent and shape of the nucleus depend not only on the size and shape of discrete nucleons, but also on the distance between them (the inter-nucleon distance). (Other factors include spin, alignment, orbital motion, and the local nuclear environment (see EMC effect).)
In turn, they send and express that information inside and outside the cell nucleus. From the inner workings of the cell to the young of a living thing, they contain and provide information via the nucleic acid sequence. This gives the RNA and DNA their unmistakable 'ladder-step' order of nucleotides within their molecules.
Little was known about the function of the nucleolus until 1964, when a study [10] of nucleoli by John Gurdon and Donald Brown in the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis generated increased interest in its function and detailed structure. They found that 25% of the frog eggs had no nucleolus, and that such eggs were not capable of life.