Chromatin definition

Chromatin





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3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Chromatin \Chro"ma*tin\, n. [Gr. ?, ?, color.]
     1. (Biol.) Tissue which is capable of being stained by dyes.
        [archaic]
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Chromatin \Chro"ma*tin\, n. (Biol.)
     The deeply staining substance of the nucleus and chromosomes
     of eukaryotic cells, composed of DNA and basic proteins (such
     as histones), the DNA of which comprises the predominant
     physical basis of inheritance. It was, at the beginning of
     the 20th century, supposed to be the same substance as was
     then termed {idioplasm} or {germ plasm}. In most eukaryotic
     cells, there is also DNA in certain plasmids, such as
     mitochondria, or (in plant cells) chloroplasts; but with the
     exception of these cytoplasmic genetic factors, the nuclear
     DNA of the chromatin is believed to contain all the genetic
     information required to code for the development of an adult
     organism. In the interphase nucleus the chromosomes are
     dispersed, but during cell division or meiosis they are
     condensed into the individually recognizable chromosomes. The
     set of chromosomes, or a photographic representation of the
     full set of chromosomes of a cell (often ordered for
     presentation) is called a karyotype.
     [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  chromatin
       n : the readily stainable substance of a cell nucleus consisting
           of DNA and RNA and various proteins; during mitotic
           division the chromatin condenses into chromosomes [syn: {chromatin
           granule}]

















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