7.1 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA

Dr Nyi Htwe Win IIP International School Biology
7.1 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA
12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 1


•control of the genetic

information of the cell and
thus the heredity
characteristics of an organism
•control of the protein and

enzyme synthesis.
•control of cell division and cell

growth.



Chromosomes
• The nucleus of every cell contains threads
called chromosomes.
• Chromosomes were discovered in the
nineteenth century. Walther Flemming
(1843–1905), a German physician and
biologist, is credited with the discovery of
chromosomes (Greek for colored body) in
1882.
• This was when scientists first had
sufficiently powerful microscopes, and were
first able to see very small things, such as
the structure of cells.

Chromosomes
• When you looked at cells using a microscope, you almost certainly
did not see any chromosomes. This is because chromosomes only
become visible with a light microscope when a cell is dividing.
• Chromosomes also need to be coloured using special stains, in
order to be able to see them.

Different chromosomes in a plant and animal cell

• This photograph shows a plant cell that is
just beginning to divide into two cells. The
cells have been stained with a special dye
that colours the chromosomes dark red.
You cannot really see any of the other
structures in the cell.
• This photograph shows a chromosome
from a fruit fly. Fruit flies have especially
thick chromosomes, called giant
chromosomes, which are much easier to
see than most chromosomes. You can see
that this chromosome is a long, striped
thread.

Number of chromosomes in a human cell

• Different species of organism have different numbers of
chromosomes in the nuclei of their cells.
• Human cells have 46 chromosomes.
• Scientists number the chromosomes in a cell according to how long
the chromosomes are.
• In a human cell, the longest chromosome is chromosome 1, the next
longest is chromosome 2, and so on.

All 23 pairs of chromosomes in males
Each chromosome looks like a

cross shape, because – just
before a cell divides – each
chromosome makes a copy of
itself.
The two copies stay joined
together part way along their
length.

Questions
1. Explain why we cannot usually see the chromosomes in a cell, even
using a microscope.
• Chromosomes do not usually become visible until just before a cell
divides. Also, they need to be coloured with a stain before they are
visible.
2. Red blood cells do not contain a nucleus. Do you think they contain
any chromosomes? Explain your answer.
• Red blood cells do not contain any chromosomes. Chromosomes are
only found in a nucleus. (Red blood cells do have a nucleus when they
are first formed, but they lose it as they become fully functioning red
blood cells, full of haemoglobin.)
Genes
• Each chromosome is made up of hundreds of different genes.
• The genes are arranged in a particular sequence along the
chromosome.
• Each gene helps to control a particular characteristic in the organism.
• On this diagram of a short chromosome, the stripes represent
different genes.

Genetic variation
• Everyone has genes for eye colour in the
same place on their chromosome 15s.
• But there are different versions of these
genes, so one person could have a
chromosome 15 with eye colour genes
that give them blue eyes, and another
could have a chromosome 15 with eye
colour genes that give them brown eyes.
• That is why the two sisters in this
photograph have different eye colours.


DNA
• Chromosomes are made of a chemical substance called DNA.
• Each chromosome is one enormously long molecule of DNA. This
means that genes are also made of DNA.
• A DNA molecule has a shape like a twisted ladder. This shape is called
a double helix.
• One gene could be a length of DNA with about 2500 of these twists.
• We cannot see these twists when we use microscopes to look at
chromosomes, because DNA molecules are much too small to see.

DNA
• DNA was first discovered in the 1950s.
• Since then, scientists have found out a great deal about how the DNA
in genes helps to determine the characteristics of humans and other
organisms.
• The DNA in a cell determines what the
cell does.
• It contains a complete set of
instructions to make a functioning cell,
and a whole organism.

Importance of DNA
• When a plant or animal grows, or when it needs to repair damage to
its body, some of its cells divide to form two new cells.
• Before this happens, all the DNA in the original cell is copied.
• Each new cell then gets a complete copy of all the DNA in the
original cell.

Discovery of DNA
• Many people believe that American
biologist James Watson and English
physicist Francis Crick discovered DNA in
the 1950s.
• In reality, this is not the case. Rather, DNA
was first identified and isolated in the late
1860s by Swiss chemist Friedrich
Miescher.
• The double helix structure of DNA was first
discovered by James Watson and Francis
Crick.
Questions
3. Explain the difference between a chromosome and a gene.
• A chromosome is a long thread of DNA. Chromosomes are found in

the nucleus of every cell. Chromosomes are thread-like structures in
which DNA is tightly packaged within the nucleus.
• A gene is part of a chromosome that helps to control a particular
characteristic. Each chromosome contains many genes. Genes
contain information that is inherited from an organism’s parents.
• DNA is the substance that chromosomes and genes are made of. DNA
in a cell contains instructions for making a cell and a whole organism.

Questions
4. All fruit flies have a gene for wing shape, in the same place on their
chromosome 2. But some fruit flies have normal wings, and some
have very tiny wings – so small that they cannot fly. What can explain
this?
• The fruit flies have different versions of the gene for wing shape. The
DNA in the different versions of the genes is slightly different.

Exercise 7.1 Chromosomes, genes and DNA

4. The DNA in a cell contains instructions for making a cell and a whole
organism.
• If any of these instructions are missing or damaged then the cell or
the organism cannot be correctly formed.
• So when a cell divides it is essential that each of the new cells gets a
full set of all the DNA in the parent cell.

Keywords
chromosomes: long thread-like structures, found in the nuclei of cells,
which are made of DNA and contain genes
genes: lengths of DNA on a chromosome, which contain a code that
determines the proteins that a cell makes; this in turn determines some
of the characteristics of the cell and of the organism
DNA: the chemical from which genes and chromosomes are made; its
structure constitutes a code that determines the proteins made in a cell

7.1 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

7.1 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Dr Nyi Htwe Win IIP International School Biology

7.1 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 1

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 2

•control of the genetic

•control of the protein and

•control of cell division and cell

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 3

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 4

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 5

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 6

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 7

Different chromosomes in a plant and animal cell

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 8

Number of chromosomes in a human cell

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 9

All 23 pairs of chromosomes in males

Each chromosome looks like a

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 10

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 12

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 13

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 14

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 15

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 16

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 17

• A chromosome is a long thread of DNA. Chromosomes are found in

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 19

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 20

Exercise 7.1 Chromosomes, genes and DNA

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 21

12/26/2023 Chromosomes, Genes and DNA 22

You might also like