The Nucleus
By: Megan Mercanti
Some History of the Nucleus
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Was discovered by Ernest Rutherford, a New
Zealand born British physicist, in May of 1911.
In a well-known experiment done by one of
Rutherford's students, alpha particles were
observed to scatter backwards from a gold foil.
Rutherford’s explanation was that the scattering
was caused by a hard, dense core at the center
of the atom–the nucleus.
Structure
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Consists of a:
Nuclear envelope(outer membrane)
Nucleoplasm(chromatin and nucleolus)
Nuclear envelope is a double bound membrane with four
phospholipid bilayers and large pores that passes material
back and forth.
Function of the Nucleus
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Regulates all cell activity(control center of the
cell)
Controls the enzymes present
Contains the information for the production of
proteins within the DNA
Regulates gene expression
Diseases/Disabilities
associated with the Nucleus
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Downs Syndrome- the nucleus of the human cell
typically contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. Downs
Syndrome occurs when the individual has a full or partial
extra copy of chromosome 21.
Cancer- in the majority of healthy cells, the nucleus is
smooth and has a spherical shape. People with cancer
have a nucleus that is abnormal in shape and size
characterized by blebs(irregular bulge).
Continued..
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Spinal Muscular Atrophy- caused by a genetic
defect in the SMN1 gene. SMN1 is necessary for
the development of motor neurons. A diminished
abundance of the protein results in death of
neuronal cells in the anterior horn of the spinal
cord and subsequent system-wide muscle wasting
(atrophy).
Interesting facts
 Under
a light microscope the nucleus
looks like a black dot
 Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes,
for a total of 46 chromosomes in the
nucleus.
 Only eukaryotes contain a nucleus
Works Cited
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Chodos, Allen, ed. "May, 1911: Rutherford and the Discovery of the Atomic
Nucleus." American Physical Society . AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY, n.d.
Web. 7 Mar 2014.
<http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200605/history.cfm>.
Davidson , Michael. "Cell Biology and Microscopy Structure and Function of
Cells and Viruses." Molecular Expressions. Florida State University, 14
May 2005. Web. 7 Mar 2014.
<http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/cells/nucleus/nucleus.html>.
"Physical Sciences in Oncology." National Cancer Institute. National Cancer
Institute. Web. 7 Mar 2014.
<http://physics.cancer.gov/research/2013/march/po_news_d.asp&xgt;.
 "Spinal muscular atrophy." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 06 March 2014. Web. 7 Mar
2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_muscular_atrophy>.
 "The Virtual Cell Web Page." . N.p.. Web. 7 Mar 2014.
<http://www.ibiblio.org/virtualcell/textbook/chapter3/chapter3.htm>.
 "What is Downs Syndrome?." National Downs Syndrome Society. National Down
Syndrome Society, n.d. Web. 7 Mar 2014. <https://www.ndss.org/DownSyndrome/What-Is-Down-Syndrome/>.