long notes on chromosome
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A chromosome is a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule with part or all of the genetic material (genome) of an organism. Most eukaryotic chromosomes include packaging proteins which, aided by chaperone proteins, bind to and condense the DNA molecule to prevent it from becoming an unmanageable tangle.This three-dimensional genome structure plays a significant role in transcriptional regulation.
Chromosomes are normally visible under a light microscope only when the cell is undergoing the metaphase of cell division (where all chromosomes are aligned in the center of the cell in their condensed form). Before this happens, every chromosome is copied once (S phase), and the copy is joined to the original by a centromere, resulting either in an X-shaped structure (pictured here) if the centromere is located in the middle of the chromosome or a two-arm structure if the centromere is located near one of the ends. The original chromosome and the copy are now called sister chromatids. During metaphase the X-shape structure is called a metaphase chromosome. In this highly condensed form chromosomes are easiest to distinguish and study. In animal cells, chromosomes reach their highest compaction level in anaphase during chromosome segregation.
Chromosomal recombination during meiosis and subsequent sexual reproduction play a significant role in genetic diversity. If these structures are manipulated incorrectly, through processes known as chromosomal instability and translocation, the cell may undergo mitotic catastrophe. Usually, this will make the cell initiate apoptosis leading to its own death, but sometimes mutations in the cell hamper this process and thus cause progression of cancer.
Some use the term chromosome in a wider sense, to refer to the individualized portions of chromatin in cells, either visible or not under light microscopy. Others use the concept in a narrower sense, to refer to the individualized portions of chromatin during cell division, visible under light microscopy due to high condensation.
Question:-
long notes on chromosome
Chromosomes are thread-like structures located inside the nucleus of animal and plant cells. Each chromosome is made of protein and a single molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Passed from parents to offspring, DNA contains the specific instructions that make each type of living creature unique.
The term chromosome comes from the Greek words for color (chroma) and body (soma). Scientists gave this name to chromosomes because they are cell structures, or bodies, that are strongly stained by some colorful dyes used in research.
Structure of Chromosome
In eukarytoic cells, chromosomes are composed of single molecule of DNA with many copies of five types of histones.
Histones are proteins molecules and are rich in lysine and arginine residues, they are positively charged. Hence they bind tightly to the negatively-charged phosphates in the DNA sequence.
A small number of non-histone proteins are also present, these are mostly transcription factors. Transcription factors regulate which parts of DNA to be transcribed into RNA.
During most of the cell’s life cycle, chromosomes are elongated and cannot be observed under the microscope.
During the S phase of the mitotic cell cycle the chromosomes are duplicated.
At the beginning of mitosis the chromosomes are duplicated and they begin to condense into short structures which can be stained and observed easily under the light microscope.
These duplicated condensed chromosomes are known as dyads.
The duplicated chromosomes are held together at the region of centromeres.
The centromeres in humans are made of about 1-10 million base pairs of DNA.
The DNA of the centromere are mostly repetitive short sequences of DNA, the sequences are repeated over and over in tandem arrays.
The attached, duplicated chromosomes are commonly called sister chromatids.
Kinetochores are the attachment point for spindle fibers which helps to pull apart the sister chromatids as the mitosis process proceeds to anaphase stage. The kinetochores are a complex of about 80 different proteins.
The shorter arm of the two arms of the chromosome extending from the centromere is called the p arm and the longer arm is known the q arm.