DNA

[kareliagarcia76]

What are the mechanisms by which DNA is packaged into the nucleus and organized in such a way that it does not get ripped apart during cell division?

[mith]

shouldn't the dna be ripped apart during division?

[kareliagarcia76]

I'm not sure. I'm thinking that its because it replicates itself rather than ripping apart.

[choozi]

DNA coil and supercoil and rotate around histone proteins to form nucleosomes.

[kolean]

I would say it is more like unzipped apart than ripped apart. And with all the proteins surrounding the DNA, it is more delicate than the word ripped conveys. More likely seduced apart by attracting forces........lol.

Nucleosomes are the octamer of histones that the DNA wraps itself around 2 1/2 times around, with a linker DNA between these "beads". This "beads on a string" is then coiled into a 30 nm fiber with Histone 1 linking them together. This fiber can then be condensed into another fiber that may be modeled with chromatin proteins into heterochromatin, which is usually visually observed at the telomeres and at the centromeric regions. Chromosomes are then attached to the nuclear plasma membrane as an anchorage site.