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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 8 February 2025. DNA molecule containing genetic material of a cell This article is about the DNA molecule. For the genetic algorithm, see Chromosome (genetic algorithm). Chromosome (10 7 - 10 10 bp) DNA Gene (10 3 - 10 6 bp) Function A chromosome and its packaged long strand of DNA unraveled. The DNA's ...
"A gene is a segment of DNA that encodes function. A chromosome consists of a long strand of DNA containing many genes. A human chromosome can have up to 500 million base pairs of DNA with thousands of genes."
Within chromosomes, DNA is held in complexes with structural proteins. These proteins organize the DNA into a compact structure called chromatin. In eukaryotes, this structure involves DNA binding to a complex of small basic proteins called histones, while in prokaryotes multiple types of proteins are involved.
Commonly, many people think the structure of a chromosome is in an "X" shape. But this is only present when the cell divides. Researchers have now been able to model the structure of chromosomes when they are active. This is extremely important because the way that DNA folds up in chromosome structures is linked to the way DNA is used.
The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as the DNA within each of the 23 distinct chromosomes in the cell nucleus. A small DNA molecule is found within individual mitochondria. These are usually treated separately as the nuclear genome and the mitochondrial genome. [1]
If the chromosome is a submetacentric chromosome (One arm big and the other arm small) then the centromere divides each chromosome into two regions: the smaller one, which is the p region, and the bigger one, the q region. The sister chromatids will be distributed to each daughter cell at the end of the cell division.
The chemical structure of DNA is insufficient to understand the complexity of the 3D structures of DNA. In contrast, animated molecular models allow one to visually explore the three-dimensional (3D) structure of DNA. The DNA model shown (far right) is a space-filling, or CPK, model of the DNA double helix. Animated molecular models, such as ...
The overall structure of the chromatin network further depends on the stage of the cell cycle. During interphase, the chromatin is structurally loose to allow access to RNA and DNA polymerases that transcribe and replicate the DNA. The local structure of chromatin during interphase depends on the specific genes present in the DNA.