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Chromomere
A chromomere, also known as an idiomere, is one of the serially aligned beads or granules of a eukaryotic chromosome, resulting from local coiling of a continuous DNA thread. Chromeres are regions of chromatin that have been compacted through localized contraction. In areas of chromatin with the absence of transcription, condensing of DNA and protein complexes will result in the formation of chromomeres. It is visible on a chromosome during the prophase of meiosis and mitosis. Giant banded ( Polytene) chromosomes resulting from the replication of the chromosomes and the synapsis of homologs without cell division is a process called endomitosis. These chromosomes consist of more than 1000 copies of the same chromatid that are aligned and produce alternating dark and light bands when stained. The dark bands are the chromomere. It is unknown when chromomeres first appear on the chromosome. Chromomeres can be observed best when chromosomes are highly condensed. The chromomeres are pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polytene Chromosome
Polytene chromosomes are large chromosomes which have thousands of DNA strands. They provide a high level of function in certain tissues such as salivary glands of insects. Polytene chromosomes were first reported by E.G.Balbiani in 1881. Polytene chromosomes are found in dipteran flies: the best understood are those of ''Drosophila'', ''Chironomus'' and '' Rhynchosciara''. They are present in another group of arthropods of the class Collembola, a protozoan group Ciliophora, mammalian trophoblasts and antipodal, and suspensor cells in plants. In insects, they are commonly found in the salivary glands when the cells are not dividing. They are produced when repeated rounds of DNA replication without cell division forms a giant chromosome. Thus polytene chromosomes form when multiple rounds of replication produce many sister chromatids ''which stay fused together''. Polytene chromosomes, at interphase, are seen to have distinct thick and thin banding patterns. These patterns w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lampbrush Chromosome
Lampbrush chromosome are a special form of chromosome found in the growing oocytes (immature eggs) of most animals, except mammals. They were first described by Walther Flemming and Ruckert in 1882. Lampbrush chromosomes of tailed and tailless amphibians, birds and insects are described best of all. Chromosomes transform into the lampbrush form during the diplotene stage of meiotic prophase I due to an active transcription of many genes. They are highly extended meiotic half-bivalents, each consisting of 2 sister chromatids. Lampbrush chromosomes are clearly visible even in the light microscope, where they are seen to be organized into a series of chromomeres with large chromatin loops extended laterally. Continuous RNA transcription is required to maintain typical chromomere-loop structure of lampbrush chromosomes. Inhibition of transcription leads to retraction of lateral loops into chromomeres and chromosome condensation. Lampbrush chromosomes produce a large number of mRNAs and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chromosome
A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are the histones. These proteins, aided by chaperone proteins, bind to and condense the DNA molecule to maintain its integrity. These chromosomes display a complex three-dimensional structure, which plays a significant role in transcriptional regulation. Chromosomes are normally visible under a light microscope only during the metaphase of cell division (where all chromosomes are aligned in the center of the cell in their condensed form). Before this happens, each chromosome is duplicated ( S phase), and both copies are joined by a centromere, resulting either in an X-shaped structure (pictured above), if the centromere is located equatorially, or a two-arm structure, if the centromere is located distally. The joined copies are now called si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eukaryotic
Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacteria and Archaea (both prokaryotes) make up the other two domains. The eukaryotes are usually now regarded as having emerged in the Archaea or as a sister of the Asgard archaea. This implies that there are only two domains of life, Bacteria and Archaea, with eukaryotes incorporated among archaea. Eukaryotes represent a small minority of the number of organisms, but, due to their generally much larger size, their collective global biomass is estimated to be about equal to that of prokaryotes. Eukaryotes emerged approximately 2.3–1.8 billion years ago, during the Proterozoic eon, likely as flagellated phagotrophs. Their name comes from the Greek εὖ (''eu'', "well" or "good") and κάρυον (''karyon'', "nut" or "kernel"). Euka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tandem Repeat
Tandem repeats occur in DNA when a pattern of one or more nucleotides is repeated and the repetitions are directly adjacent to each other. Several protein domains also form tandem repeats within their amino acid primary structure, such as armadillo repeats. However, in proteins, perfect tandem repeats are unlikely in most ''in vivo'' proteins, and most known repeats are in proteins which have been designed. An example would be: : ATTCG ATTCG ATTCG in which the sequence ATTCG is repeated three times. Terminology When between 10 and 60 nucleotides are repeated, it is called a minisatellite. Those with fewer are known as microsatellites or short tandem repeats. When exactly two nucleotides are repeated, it is called a ''dinucleotide repeat'' (for example: ACACACAC...). The microsatellite instability in hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer most commonly affects such regions. When three nucleotides are repeated, it is called a ''trinucleotide repeat'' (for example: CAGCAGCAGCAG. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epigenetics
In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in addition to" the traditional genetic basis for inheritance. Epigenetics most often involves changes that affect the regulation of gene expression, but the term can also be used to describe any heritable phenotypic change. Such effects on cellular and physiological phenotypic traits may result from external or environmental factors, or be part of normal development. The term also refers to the mechanism of changes: functionally relevant alterations to the genome that do not involve mutation of the nucleotide sequence. Examples of mechanisms that produce such changes are DNA methylation and histone modification, each of which alters how genes are expressed without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Gene expression c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Optical Microscope
The optical microscope, also referred to as a light microscope, is a type of microscope that commonly uses visible light and a system of lenses to generate magnified images of small objects. Optical microscopes are the oldest design of microscope and were possibly invented in their present compound form in the 17th century. Basic optical microscopes can be very simple, although many complex designs aim to improve resolution and sample contrast. The object is placed on a stage and may be directly viewed through one or two eyepieces on the microscope. In high-power microscopes, both eyepieces typically show the same image, but with a stereo microscope, slightly different images are used to create a 3-D effect. A camera is typically used to capture the image (micrograph). The sample can be lit in a variety of ways. Transparent objects can be lit from below and solid objects can be lit with light coming through ( bright field) or around (dark field) the objective lens. Polarised ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcription (genetics)
Transcription is the process of copying a segment of DNA into RNA. The segments of DNA transcribed into RNA molecules that can encode proteins are said to produce messenger RNA (mRNA). Other segments of DNA are copied into RNA molecules called non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). mRNA comprises only 1–3% of total RNA samples. Less than 2% of the human genome can be transcribed into mRNA ( Human genome#Coding vs. noncoding DNA), while at least 80% of mammalian genomic DNA can be actively transcribed (in one or more types of cells), with the majority of this 80% considered to be ncRNA. Both DNA and RNA are nucleic acids, which use base pairs of nucleotides as a complementary language. During transcription, a DNA sequence is read by an RNA polymerase, which produces a complementary, antiparallel RNA strand called a primary transcript. Transcription proceeds in the following general steps: # RNA polymerase, together with one or more general transcription factors, binds to promoter DNA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Histone
In biology, histones are highly basic proteins abundant in lysine and arginine residues that are found in eukaryotic cell nuclei. They act as spools around which DNA winds to create structural units called nucleosomes. Nucleosomes in turn are wrapped into 30-nanometer fibers that form tightly packed chromatin. Histones prevent DNA from becoming tangled and protect it from DNA damage. In addition, histones play important roles in gene regulation and DNA replication. Without histones, unwound DNA in chromosomes would be very long. For example, each human cell has about 1.8 meters of DNA if completely stretched out; however, when wound about histones, this length is reduced to about 90 micrometers (0.09 mm) of 30 nm diameter chromatin fibers. There are five families of histones which are designated H1/H5 (linker histones), H2, H3, and H4 (core histones). The nucleosome core is formed of two H2A-H2B dimers and a H3-H4 tetramer. The tight wrapping of DNA around histones ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acetylation
: In organic chemistry, acetylation is an organic esterification reaction with acetic acid. It introduces an acetyl group into a chemical compound. Such compounds are termed ''acetate esters'' or simply '' acetates''. Deacetylation is the opposite reaction, the removal of an acetyl group from a chemical compound. Organic synthesis Acetate esters and acetamides are generally prepared by acetylations. Acetylations are often used in making C-acetyl bonds in Friedel-Crafts reactions. Carbanions and their equivalents are susceptible to acetylations. Acetylation reagents Many acetylations are achieved using these three reagents: * Acetic anhydride. This reagent is common in the laboratory; its use cogenerates acetic acid. *Acetyl chloride. This reagent is also common in the laboratory, but its use cogenerates hydrogen chloride, which can be undesirable. *Ketene. At one time acetic anhydride was prepared by the reaction of ketene with acetic acid: :H2C=C=O + CH3COOH -> (CH3CO)2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heterochromatin
Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA or '' condensed DNA'', which comes in multiple varieties. These varieties lie on a continue between the two extremes of constitutive heterochromatin and facultative heterochromatin. Both play a role in the expression of genes. Because it is tightly packed, it was thought to be inaccessible to polymerases and therefore not transcribed; however, according to Volpe et al. (2002), and many other papers since, much of this DNA is in fact transcribed, but it is continuously turned over via RNA-induced transcriptional silencing (RITS). Recent studies with electron microscopy and OsO4 staining reveal that the dense packing is not due to the chromatin. Constitutive heterochromatin can affect the genes near itself (e.g. position-effect variegation). It is usually repetitive and forms structural functions such as centromeres or telomeres, in addition to acting as an attractor for other gene-expression or repression signals. Facultative hete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cohesion (structural)
In sociology, structural cohesion is the conception of a useful formal definition and measure of cohesion in social groups. It is defined as the minimal number of actors in a social network that need to be removed to disconnect the group. It is thus identical to the question of the node connectivity of a given graph in discrete mathematics. The vertex-cut version of Menger's theorem also proves that the disconnection number is equivalent to a maximally sized group with a network in which every pair of persons has at least this number of separate paths between them. It is also useful to know that -cohesive graphs (or -components) are always a subgraph of a -core, although a -core is not always -cohesive. A -core is simply a subgraph in which all nodes have at least neighbors but it need not even be connected. The boundaries of structural endogamy in a kinship group are a special case of structural cohesion. Software Cohesive.blockingis the R program for computing structural c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
