Chromosomes vary widely between different organisms. The DNA molecule may be circular
or linear, and can be composed of 10,000 to 1,000,000,000 nucleotides in a long chain.
Typically, eukaryotic cells (cells with nuclei) have large linear chromosomes and prokaryotic
cells (cells without defined nuclei= have smaller circular chromosomes, although there are
many exception to this rule. Also, cells may contain more than one type of chromosomes; for
example, mitochondria in most eukaryotes and chloroplasts in plants have their own small
chromosomes.
Compaction of the duplicated chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis results in the classic
four-arm structure (pictured to the right).
Chromosomal recombination plays a vital role in genetic diversity.
If these structures are manipulated incorrectly, through processes known as chromosomal
instability and translocation, the cell may undergo mitotic catastrophe and die, or it may
unexpectedly evade apoptosis leading to the progression of cancer.
In practice” chromosome” is a rather loosely defined term. In prokaryotes and viruses, the
term genophore is more appropriate when no chromatin is present. However, a large body of
work uses the term chromosome regardless of chromatin content. In prokaryotes , DNA is
usually arranged as a circle, which is tightly coiled in on itself, sometimes accompanied by
one or more smaller, circular DNA molecules calles plasmids. The word chromosome comes
from Grec KXPWUA (chroma,colour) and owua (soma,body) due to their property of being
very strongly stained by particular dyes .