Nuclear DNA

Nuclear DNA, or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid (nDNA), is DNA contained within a nucleus of eukaryotic organisms.[1] In mammalsand vertebrates, nuclear DNA encodes more of the genome than the mitochondrial DNA and is composed of information inherited from two parents, one male, and one female, rather than matrilineally.[2] Of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the human body, 22 are of nuclear DNA. [3]

Contents

1 Structure 2 Mitochondrial DNA 3 Forensics 4 Cell division 5 Replication 6 See also 7 References

Structure
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). Each strand is a long polymer chain of repeating nucleotides.[4] Each nucleotide is composed of a five carbon sugar, a phosphate group, and an organic base. Nucleotides are distinguished by their bases. There is the Purines, large bases, which are adenine and guanine, and Pyrimidines, small bases, which are thymine and cytosine. Chargaff's rule states 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.[5]

Mitochondrial DNA
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 has two copies per cell, while mitochondrial DNA is located in the mitochondria and contains 100-1000 copies per cell. The structure of nuclear DNA is a linear molecule with open ends and composed of 46 chromosomes and 3 billion nucleotides. Mitochondrial DNA is structured as a

closed, circular molecule and composed of 16,569 nucleotides. The inheritance for nuclear DNA isdiploid, inheriting the DNA from both mother and father, while mitochondrial DNA is haploid, coming only from the mother. And the mutation rate for nuclear DNA is less than 0.3% while mitochondrial DNA is generally higher. [6]

Forensics
Nuclear DNA is known as the molecule of life and contains the genetic instructions in the development of all living organisms. It is found in every cell in the human body, with the exception of red blood cells. Everyone has a unique genetic blueprint except for identical twins. Forensic departments such as the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are able to use certain techniques involving nuclear DNA to compare samples of principles involved in a case. Techniques used include Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) which allows you to utilize very small amounts of DNA by making copies of targeted regions on the molecule, also known as Short Tandem Repeats (STRs). [7][8]

Cell division
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. [9]

Replication
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.
[10]

DNA replication begins at a specific point in the DNA molecule called the origin of replication site. 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 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 the replication site. 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 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.