What part of cell cycle is DNA condensed?
prophase
During prophase, the nucleus disappears, spindle fibers form, and DNA condenses into chromosomes ( sister chromatids ).
What is loose DNA called?
Loose and Tight Chromosomes are not always visible. They usually sit around uncoiled and as loose strands called chromatin. When it is time for the cell to reproduce, they condense and wrap up very tightly. The tightly wound DNA is the chromosome. Chromosomes look kind of like long, limp, white hot dogs.
What is the purpose of DNA condensing into chromosomes?
Condensing DNA into chromosomes prevents DNA tangling and damage during cell division.
What happens when DNA condenses?
During prophase, the complex of DNA and proteins contained in the nucleus, known as chromatin, condenses. The chromatin coils and becomes increasingly compact, resulting in the formation of visible chromosomes. Chromosomes are made of a single piece of DNA that is highly organized.
What happens during DNA condensation?
To cope with volume constraints, DNA can pack itself in the appropriate solution conditions with the help of ions and other molecules. Usually, DNA condensation is defined as “the collapse of extended DNA chains into compact, orderly particles containing only one or a few molecules”.
Is DNA condensed in G2 phase?
It follows the successful completion of S phase, during which the cell’s DNA is replicated. G2 phase ends with the onset of prophase, the first phase of mitosis in which the cell’s chromatin condenses into chromosomes.
What is uncoiled DNA?
Between cell divisions, the DNA in chromosomes is more loosely coiled and forms long thin strands called chromatin. DNA is in this uncoiled form during the majority of the cell cycle, making the DNA available to the proteins involved in DNA replication and transcription.
When DNA is uncoiled and lose its called?
chromatin
During interphase the DNA strands are uncoiled (uncondensed) in the nucleus. This uncondensed genetic material is called chromatin; thus an uncondensed chromosome can be called chromatin.
How is DNA condensed?
To package DNA inside the nucleus, cells wrap their DNA strands around scaffolding proteins to form a coiled condensed structure called chromatin. Chromatin is further folded into higher orders of structure that form the characteristic shape of chromosomes.
What happens during chromosome condensation?
Chromosome condensation is the dramatic reorganisation of the long thin chromatin strands into compact short chromosomes that occurs in mitosis and meiosis.