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Nuclear DNA is a nucleic acid, a polymeric biomolecule or biopolymer, found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.Its structure is a double helix, with two strands wound around each other, a structure first described by Francis Crick and James D. Watson (1953) using data collected by Rosalind Franklin.
In eukaryotes, DNA is located in the cell nucleus, with small amounts in mitochondria and chloroplasts. In prokaryotes, the DNA is held within an irregularly shaped body in the cytoplasm called the nucleoid. [97] The genetic information in a genome is held within genes, and the complete set of this information in an organism is called its genotype.
The nucleus contains nearly all of the cell's DNA, surrounded by a network of fibrous intermediate filaments called the nuclear matrix, and is enveloped in a double membrane called the nuclear envelope. The nuclear envelope separates the fluid inside the nucleus, called the nucleoplasm, from the rest of the cell.
During cell division these chromosomes are duplicated in the process of DNA replication, providing each cell its own complete set of chromosomes. Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store most of their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in organelles, such as mitochondria or chloroplasts.
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.
The possible presence of organelle DNA inside the nuclear genome was suggested after discovering homologous structures to the mitochondrial DNA in the nucleus, which was shortly after the discovery of independent DNA within the organelles in 1967. [16] This topic stayed untouched until the 1980s.
The nuclear envelope, also known as the nuclear membrane, [1] [a] is made up of two lipid bilayer membranes that in eukaryotic cells surround the nucleus, which encloses the genetic material. The nuclear envelope consists of two lipid bilayer membranes: an inner nuclear membrane and an outer nuclear membrane. [ 4 ]
Nucleoplasm is quite similar to the cytoplasm, with the main difference being that nucleoplasm is found inside the nucleus while the cytoplasm is located inside the cell, outside of the nucleus. Their ionic compositions are nearly identical due to the ion pumps and permeability of the nuclear envelope, however, the proteins in these two fluids ...