9 results for: chromosome

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

chro·mo·some

Audio Help [kroh-muh-sohm] Pronunciation Key

–noun Genetics.

any of several threadlike bodies, consisting of chromatin, that carry the genes in a linear order: the human species has 23 pairs, designated 1 to 22 in order of decreasing size and X and Y for the female and male sex chromosomes respectively.

[Origin: 1885–90; chromo- + -some³

]

—Related forms

chro·mo·so·mal, adjective

chro·mo·so·mal·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
chromosome

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

chro·mo·some Audio Help (krō'mə-sōm') Pronunciation Key
n.

A threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated proteins in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells that carries the genes and functions in the transmission of hereditary information.
A circular strand of DNA in bacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

chro'mo·so'mal (-sō'məl), chro'mo·so'mic (-sō'mĭk) adj., chro'mo·so'mal·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chromosome

1889, from Ger. Chromosom, coined 1888 by Ger. anatomist Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz (1836-1921), from Gk. khroma "color" + soma "body." So called because the structures contain a substance that stains readily with basic dyes.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

chromosome
noun
a threadlike strand of DNA in the cell nucleus that carries the genes in a linear order; "humans have 22 chromosome pairs plus two sex chromosomes"

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

chromosome Audio Help (krō'mə-sōm') Pronunciation Key

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A structure in all living cells that consists of a single molecule of DNA bonded to various proteins and that carries the genes determining heredity. In all eukaryotic cells, the chromosomes occur as threadlike strands in the nucleus. During cell reproduction, these strands coil up and condense into much thicker structures that are easily viewed under a microscope. Chromosomes occur in pairs in all of the cells of eukaryotes except the reproductive cells, which have one of each chromosome, and some red blood cells (such as those of mammals) that expel their nuclei. In bacterial cells and other prokaryotes, which have no nucleus, the chromosome is a circular strand of DNA located in the cytoplasm.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

chro·mo·some (krm-sm)
n.

A threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated proteins in the nucleus of animal and plant cells that carries the genes and functions in the transmission of hereditary information.
A circular strand of DNA in bacteria and cyanobacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

chromo·somal (-s

l) or chromo·somic (-s

k) adj.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: chro·mo·some
Pronunciation: 'krO-m&-"sOm, -"zOm
Function: noun
: any of the usually linear bodies of the cell nucleus of eukaryotic organisms, the usually circular bodies of prokaryotic organisms (as bacteria), or especially in some schools of molecular biology the genomes of DNA viruses (as bacteriophages) that take up basophilic stains and contain most or all of the genes of the organism <both the chromosomes of cells and those of viruses can duplicate only in the complex environment of a living cell —J. D. Watson> <an episome, an element that may exist as a free circular plasmid, or that may become integrated into the bacterial chromosome as a linear sequence —Benjamin Lewin> —chro·mo·som·al /"krO-m&-'sO-m&l, -'zO-/ adjective —chro·mo·som·al·ly /-m&-lE/ adverb

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chromosome

Chro"mo*some`\, n. [Gr. ? color + ? the body.] (Biol.) One of the minute bodies into which the chromatin of the nucleus is resolved during mitotic cell division; the idant of Weismann.

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