Monday, February 8, 2010

How does 6 feet of DNA fit inside a tiny nucleus?


Click here to watch an animation of how DNA is tightly packed inside the nucleus of every cell. 





23 comments:

  1. That is actually a very good question... How does DNA fit into a tiny nucleus? This video helped me understand this concept. Thank you Leslie!

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  2. Wow! I didn't know proteins were that important in our bodies! This is very interesting!! :)

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  3. Thanks - seeing it instead of just hearing about it really helped! I would have never guessed it was like that. Thanks again!

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  4. why are chromosomes shaped like an "X"?

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  5. That's so cool!
    DNA is so amazing!
    I wondered about this. It helped me a lot. And like Radhika said, why are chromosomes shaped like an X?

    Michael N. 7I

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  6. I have a question: if chromatin is the liquid that is in the nucleus, why is it shaped like fibers in the animation? Do the fibers make up the liquid or something?
    Thanks Leslie!

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  7. I heard that in your body there's a lot of DNA. It's like a bazillion feet long. how does all of that fit inside me. Also is it possible for DNA to break??? Or what if your DNA is all out of order and the pieces don't fit or something. It's weird how DNA is sooooo long and perfect

    Sophia m 7f

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  8. i think the this DNA video was soooooo COOL!!!
    But it was kinda freaky at the same time!! it looked like ther DNA was like static. And it was so weird watching it curl up. Now i kno how my DNA would kinda look like. Tht shows that the human body is soooo complex.

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  9. That was pretty awesome. You can post this article if want. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1951968,00.html

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  10. This is really cool! I had no idea how many times DNA coiled and turned and all that.

    Julia G. ~ 7F

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  11. This is really interesting it really helped me understand the concepts about DNA thanks Leslie

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  12. Hi Leslie,

    This animation was very interesting. It's crazy how our body can find such an efficient and compact way to store DNA. It must have been looped and coiled about 5 times!

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  13. Woah! That is one cool animation. But why does it shake so much?
    Henretta Dow-7F

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  14. Yeah, just like Justin said, it coils up so much!!!!! It's so strange that none living things can move like that. And what you said in class that if a single human unravels all their DNA it could reach the moon is much more believable after I saw this video. Imagine how far it could go into space if all the people on Earth connected their DNA together... mind boggling...

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  15. That is soooo cool i didn't know that each different level of i guess you would call it curl had a name. I knew that some did but wow thats alot of names. Thank you so much for posting this Leslie. i thought that it was really interesting. I would also like to know why chromosomes are shaped like an x. Is it because of the two pairs and they are put together to make an x? Thats only a guess though.

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  16. Why does the DNA Shake?

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  17. Pretty cool

    -Stanley

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  18. is it posible tht the animation is inaccurate? it says tht the chromosoeis made up of fibers, but then it says its a liquid. possible mistake?

    gabi g 7b

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  19. Does this happen as soon as the cell is formed?
    Thanks Leslie!

    Tom 7G

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  20. HOw long does it take to coil up like that or is it already made like that.

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  21. 6ft lonngg? thts awesome. But its awkward to know that DNA is taller than me. Yea I agree with Minhaj, how long does it take to coil up?

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  22. i had heard of the process of wrapping the DNA before, but seeing it really helped, especially in such great detail! Thanks!


    Kevin B. 7E

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  23. wow theres a lot of facts and questions here... i wanna answer one of them:
    i think chromosomes are shaped like an X because when they divide, they can split into two I-shaped chromosomes. the shape of chromosomes had probably adapted so when meiosis occured, it would be easier to make another set of DNA for the daughter cell.
    hope that answers your question, emily lei 7H

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