UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information

Do chromosomes make up DNA or contain DNA? If it does contain DNA, how does 46 chromosomes make up the 220 different somatic cells with different functions?
46 =/= 220, because doesn't each different somatic cell have different DNA(double helix)?
How does this work?

Question Date: 0000-00-00
Answer 1:

Chromosomes are strands of DNA bundled by proteins called histones.

All cells contain the entire genome of the organism they belong to (human cells have 46 chromosomes, but different species of animals and plants have different numbers). Every one of your 220 cell types still contains all of your DNA. Different cell types do not contain different DNA (note: they don't in nematodes, but that's another story).



Click Here to return to the search form.
University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use