Lab 5 - Chromosomes and Their Aberrations Flashcards
How many chromosomes does all cells in the human organism contain?
23 pairs, total of 46 chromosomes. One from the mother and one from the father.
How many chromosomes does each egg cell and each sperm cell contains?
A haploid set of 23 chromosomes (1n)
How many chromosomes does a fertilized egg contain?
A diploid set of 46 chromosomes (2n)
Autosome
An autosome is a chromosome that is not an allosome (a sex chromosome).
How many pairs of autosomes is there in male and female?
22 pairs
Sex chromosomes
Males: XY
Females: XX
Centromere and its divisions
The centromere is the specialized DNA sequence of a chromosome that links a pair of sister chromatids (a dyad). It contains a repetitive-satellite DNA sequences and divides the chromosomes into a short arm p (petite) and long arm q.
Can be divided to:
Metacentric
Submetacentric
Acrocentric chromosomes
Metacentric chromosome
Centromere is positioned in the middle
Submetacentric chromosome
Centromere is positioned between the middle and the end of the chromosome
Acrocentric chromosomes
Centromere is positioned at the end, separating a normal long arm from a short arm that contains only multiple (hundreds) copies of rRNA genes (chromosomal satellites)
Sequence homology
Strictly, refers to the situation where nucleic acid or protein sequences are similar because they have a common evolutionary origin
Enables binding and recombination at meiosis, which is not only essential for the generation of haploid set of chromosomes, but also an important factor in the diversification of the species
Histones
Highly alkaline proteins found in eukaryotic cell nuclei that package and order the DNA into structural units called nucleosomes
Core histones and Linker histone
Core histones: H2A, H2B, H3, H4
Linker histone: H1
Nucleosome
Basic packing unit in a chromosome that consist of 8 core histones and 146 base pairs of DNA
How many core histones is the DNA double strand wound around?
8 core histones, two of each core histones
How many full twists does the DNA complete?
1.75 full twists, which correspond to 146 base pairs
Chromatin
The combination of DNA and (histone and nonhistone) proteins that makes up a chromosome
Euchromatin
Relatively loosed packed chromatin that represents transcriptionally active DNA or may be recognized as light bands during chromosome analysis (G-banding)
Heterochromatin
Highly condensed chromatin that represents transcriptionally inactive (often repetitive) DNA or may be recognized as dark bands during chromosome analysis (G-banding)
Telomeres
A region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes