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chromosome

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Ship live cells overnight for accurate chromosome analysis.
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chro⋅mo⋅some

  [kroh-muh-sohm]
Use chromosome in a Sentence
–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- + -some 3

Related forms:
chro⋅mo⋅so⋅mal, adjective
chro⋅mo⋅so⋅mal⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To chromosome
The DNA Ancestry Project
Discover Your Ancestry with DNA. Find Ethnic and Geographic Origins.
www.DNAAncestryProject.com
Karyotypes for research
Ship live cells overnight for accurate chromosome analysis.
www.karyologic.com
chro·mo·some   (krō'mə-sōm')   
n.  

  1. 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.

  2. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: chro·mo·some
Pronunciation: 'krO-m&-"sOm, -"zOm
Function: noun
: any of the usually linear bodies of the cell nucleus ofeukaryotic 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 upbasophilic stains and contain most or all of the genes of the organism chromosomes of cells and those of viruses can duplicate only in the complex environment of a livingcell —J. D. Watson> 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
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

chromosome chro·mo·some (krō'mə-sōm')
n.

  1. 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.

  2. A circular strand of DNA in bacteria and cyanobacteria that contains the hereditary information necessary for cell life.

chro'mo·so'mal (-sō'məl) or chro'mo·so'mic (-sō'mĭk) adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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