Nuclear Matter

Using Data:
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Shrimp have the highest number of total chromosomes with 256 in each body cell.

Fruit Flies have the least number of total chromosomes with 8 in each body cell. 3. No, I do not believe the intelligence of an organism is related to the number of chromosomes it has. If it were true shrimp would be more intelligent than humans, also the sugar cane is smarter than a tomato.

Remember:
1. The nucleus determines the way cells behave and how they carry out their function, such as transmitting impulses, supplying energy, contracting or carrying out photosynthesis. In this way, the nucleus is the control centre of the cell. In prokaryotes, the DNA is more loosely located in an area of the cell and is not contained in a membrane. The tiny pores in the nuclear membrane, allow the transportation of materials into and out of the nucleus. The nucleus is usually difficult to see and needs to be stained to become visible under a light microscope. Chromosomes are lengths of DNA. Each chromosome appears to be made up of two strands, or chromatids, held together by a centromere. No, with suitable staining, the chromosomes become visible in the nucleus. At other times in the life cycle of the cell, the chromosomes are not visible. Each body cell of a human contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. One of the pairs known as the sex chromosomes contains information for sexual characteristics. In males the sex chromosomes do not match, there is a longer X and a shorter Y. In females there are two X chromosomes. The non-sex chromosomes are called autosomes.

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Karyotyping chromosomes is the process of sorting chromosomes into their matched pairs. Cells about to divide are treated and stained, mounted on slides for viewing and photographed. The photographs are cut up and arranged. The process is an important technique used in investigating chromosomal disorders.

Think
1. The DNA itself is compacted via a process called supercoiling. The tension in the strand increases so that the natural response of the strand is to fold over onto itself. This relieves tension in the strand and compacts the strand at the same time. These aforementioned processes result in the formation of chromosomes, which are highly condensed. When a cell is about to divide, the chromosomes have coiled and thickened and are visible. At other times in the cell's life cycle, they are not able to be visualised. The 23rd pair of chromosomes is checked to be either XX which is female or XY which is male.

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Passing On
Remember
1. 2. Cell division takes place for the growth, repair, replacement and development of tissues. The two main types of cell division are mitosis and meiosis. In asexual reproduction, an organism produces a new living thing identical to itself through mitosis, during which two cells identical to the original cell are formed. In sexually reproducing organisms, such as flowering plants and humans, gametes are produced in the sex organs by a different type of cell division called meiosis. In humans, the male gamete is called sperm and the female gamete is called ovum. The male gamete is produced in the testes and the female gamete is produced in the ovaries. The diploid number is the number of chromosomes in each body cell. The haploid number is for cells carrying half the number of chromosomes. There are 23 pairs of chromosomes in each body cell totalling 46 chromosomes. There are 23 chromosomes in a sperm cell or ovum.

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Think
1. Cell growth takes place most rapidly in plants and mice in the tips allowing selected growth in particular areas like the stem of a plant or the tail of a mouse. If n is the number of pairs of chromosomes in a leaf cell, the leaf cell would contain 2n chromosomes. Growing plants from cuttings rather than seedling ensure the next generation of crop is identical to the first rather than the seedling which would produce variation. The body cells of a joey contain the diploid number of chromosomes and the ovum does not. This is because the ovum is only the female gamete. The addition of the male gamete results in the diploid number.

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Mitosis and Meiosis

Mitosis This process happens in body cells of plants and animals 1. Chromosomes in cell duplicate 2. Identical chromosome sets separate 3. Cell contents duplicate 4. Cell divides to form two cells of equal size

Meiosis These cells are either sperm or eggs 1. Chromosomes duplicate 2. Form two identical pairs of chromatids 3. Four copies of each chromosome in the cell 4. Centromere is their joining point 5. Nucleus membrane disappears 6. Spindle fibres grow across the cell 7. Chromosome pairs line up with spindle fibres attached to centromeres 8. Spindle fibres contract, separating members of each pair 9. Each chromosome still has two chromatids 10.Division occurs again 11.Each cell now has half the chromosomes of the original cell