Chromosome
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- (KROH-muh-some) Part of a cell that contains genetic information. Except for sperm and eggs, all human cells contain 46 chromosomes.
National Cancer Institute - Cite This Source - This Definition - cell-to-cell signaling, Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, Gene, gene-modified, gene transfer, Genetic, genetics, hereditary, inherited, retroviral vector
- (kro'mo-sohm) a structure in the nucleus containing a linear thread of DNA which transmits genetic information and is associated with RNA and histones.
DoD Breast Health Program South - Cite This Source - This Definition - aneuploid, Diploidy, DNA cytometry, DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid, flow cytometry, Image cytometry, ploidy
- A single DNA molecule, a tightly coiled strant of DNA, condensed into a compact structure in vivo by complexing with accessory histones or histone-like proteins. Chromosomes exist in pairs in higher eukaryotes. (See Chromosome walking.)
Susan Allender-Hagedorn and Charles Hagedorn - Cite This Source - This Definition - In eukaryotic cells, chromosomes are the nuclear bodies containing most of the genes largely responsible for the differentiation and activity of the cell. Chromosomes are most easily studied in their contracted state, which occurs around the metaphase of mitosis or meiosis; they contain most of the cell's DNA in the form of chromatin. Each eukaryotic species has a characteristic number of chromosomes. Bacterial and viral cells contain only one chromosome, which consists of a single or double strand of DNA or, in some viruses, RNA, without histones.
UN Food and Agriculture Organization - Cite This Source - This Definition - chromatin, histone, non-histone chromosomal protein, protamine, scaffold
- One of the threadlike "packages" of genes and other DNA in the nucleus of a cell. Different kinds of organisms have different numbers of chromosomes. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, 46 in all: 44 autosomes and two sex chromosomes. Each parent contributes one chromosome to each pair, so children get half of their chromosomes from their mothers and half from their fathers. See also autosome, cell, gene, nucleus, protein
National Human Genome Research Institute - Cite This Source - This Definition - The self-replicating genetic structure of cells containing the cellular DNA that bears in its nucleotide sequence the linear array of genes. In prokaryotes, chromosomal DNA is circular, and the entire genome is carried on one chromosome. Eukaryotic genomes consist of a number of chromosomes whose DNA is associated with different kinds of proteins.
Human Genome Project - Cite This Source - This Definition - Autosome, Genome, human artificial chromosome (HAC), Micronuclei, Nucleus, sex chromosome, sex-linked, Y-chromosome