Nuclear DNA

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Nuclear DNA, or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid (nDNA), is DNA contained within

a nucleus of eukaryotic organisms.[1] Nuclear DNA encodes for the majority of the genome in
eukaryotes, with DNA located in mitochondria and plastids coding for the rest. Nuclear DNA
adheres to Mendelian inheritance, with information coming from two parents, one male and one
female, rather than matrilineally, as in mitochondrial DNA.[2]

The human nuclear DNA displayed into chromosome ideograms with label from Human Genome
Project (1990-2003)

Autosomes 122 X Y

Contents
[hide]

1Structure

2Mitochondrial DNA

3Forensics

4Cell division

5Replication

6See also

7References

Structure[edit]
Nuclear DNA is a nucleic acid, a complex organic compound, found in the nucleus of eukaryotic
organisms. Its structure is a double helix, with two strands wound around each other. This double
helix structure was first described by Francis Crick and James D. Watson (1953) using data
collected by Rosalind Franklin. Each strand is a long polymer chain of repeating nucleotides.
[3]
Each nucleotide is composed of a five-carbon sugar, a phosphate group, and an organic base.
Nucleotides are distinguished by their bases. There are the purines, large bases which include
adenine and guanine, and pyrimidines, small bases which include thymine and
cytosine. Chargaff's rules state that adenine will always pair with thymine and guanine will
always pair with cytosine. The phosphate groups are held together by a phosphodiester
bond and the bases are held together by hydrogen bonds.[4]

Mitochondrial DNA[edit]
Nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA differ in many ways, starting with location and structure.
Nuclear DNA is located within the nucleus of eukaryote cells and usually has two copies per cell
while mitochondrial DNA is located in the mitochondria and contains 100-1,000 copies per cell.
The structure of nuclear DNA chromosomes is linear with open ends and includes
46 chromosomes containing 3 billion nucleotides. Mitochondrial DNA chromosomes usually have
closed, circular structures, and contain for example 16,569 nucleotides in human. [5] Nuclear DNA
is diploid, inheriting the DNA from both mother and father, while mitochondrial DNA is haploid,
coming only from the mother. The mutation rate for nuclear DNA is less than 0.3% while that of
mitochondrial DNA is generally higher.[6]

Forensics[edit]
Nuclear DNA is known as the molecule of life and contains the genetic instructions for the
development of all living organisms. It is found in almost every cell in the human body, with
exceptions such as red blood cells. Everyone has a unique genetic blueprint, even identical
twins.[7] Forensic departments such as the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are able to use techniques involving nuclear DNA to compare
samples in a case. Techniques used include polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which allows one
to utilize very small amounts of DNA by making copies of targeted regions on the molecule, also
known as short tandem repeats (STRs).[8][9]

Cell division[edit]
Like mitosis, meiosis is a form of eukaryotic cell division. Meiosis gives rise to four unique
daughter cells, each of which has half the number of chromosomes as the parent cell. Because
meiosis creates cells that are destined to become gametes (or reproductive cells), this reduction
in chromosome number is critical without it, the union of two gametes during fertilization would
result in offspring with twice the normal number of chromosomes.
Meiosis creates new combinations of genetic material in each of the four daughter cells. These
new combinations result from the exchange of DNA between paired chromosomes. Such
exchange means that the gametes produced through meiosis exhibit an amazing range of
genetic variation.
Meiosis involves two rounds of nuclear division, not just one. Prior to undergoing meiosis, a cell
goes through an interphase period in which it grows, replicates its chromosomes, and checks all
of its systems to ensure that it is ready to divide.
Like mitosis, meiosis also has distinct stages called prophase, metaphase, anaphase,
and telophase. A key difference, however, is that during meiosis, each of these phases occurs
twice once during the first round of division, called meiosis I, and again during the second
round of division, called meiosis II.[10]

Replication[edit]
Prior to cell division, the DNA material in the original cell must be duplicated so that after cell
division, each new cell contains the full amount of DNA material. The process of DNA duplication
is usually called replication. The replication is termed semiconservative since each new cell
contains one strand of original DNA and one newly synthesized strand of DNA. The
original polynucleotide strand of DNA serves as a template to guide the synthesis of the new
complementary polynucleotide of DNA. The DNA single strand template serves to guide the
synthesis of a complementary strand of DNA.[11]
DNA replication begins at a specific site in the DNA molecule called the origin of replication.
The enzyme helicase unwinds and separates a portion of the DNA molecule after which single-
strand binding proteins react with and stabilize the separated, single-stranded sections of the
DNA molecule. The enzyme complex DNA polymerase engages the separated portion of the
molecule and initiates the process of replication. DNA polymerase can only connect new DNA
nucleotides to a pre-existing chain of nucleotides. Therefore, replication begins as an enzyme
called primase assembles an RNA primer at the origin of replication. The RNA primer consists of
a short sequence of RNA nucleotides, complementary to a small, initial section of the DNA strand
being prepared for replication. DNA polymerase is then able to add DNA nucleotides to the RNA
primer and thus begin the process of constructing a new complementary strand of DNA. Later
the RNA primer is enzymatically removed and replaced with the appropriate sequence of DNA
nucleotides. Because the two complementary strands of the DNA molecule are oriented in
opposite directions and the DNA polymerase can only accommodate replication in one direction,
two different mechanisms for copying the strands of DNA are employed. One strand is replicated
continuously towards the unwinding, separating portion of the original DNA molecule; while the
other strand is replicated discontinuously in the opposite direction with the formation of a series
of short DNA segments called Okazaki fragments. Each Okazaki fragment requires a separate
RNA primer. As the Okazaki fragments are synthesized, the RNA primers are replaced with DNA
nucleotides and the fragments are bonded together in a continuous complementary strand. [12]