Core Functions

When the structure, functions of a cell is considered, much attention is paid to those structures that participate in the preservation and transfer of genetic data. These complex elements are also involved in regulating the activity of these or other structures.

It should be noted that the role of the nucleus as a site for the preservation of hereditary material, as well as its primary role in the detection of phenotypic traits, has been defined long ago. One of the first to demonstrate this role was Hammerling (a German biologist).

Functions of the cell nucleus are reduced mainly to the provision of life. These permanent structures have an ovoid or spherical shape. The length of the first is about 20 μm, and the diameter of the latter is about 10 μm.

The kernel functions are divided into two general groups. The first includes tasks related to the storage of hereditary data. The second group includes the core functions associated with the implementation of this information, with the provision of protein synthesis.

The first group includes processes that ensure the preservation of genetic information, which is represented by an unchanged DNA structure. These functions of the nucleus are due to the presence of "repair enzymes". They eliminate sudden damage in the DNA molecule. Due to this, DNA molecules remain practically unchanged.

The kernel functions are also associated with reduplication, or playback. As a result, absolutely identical (and quantitatively and qualitatively) volumes of hereditary data are formed. In nuclei, the hereditary material is changed and recombined. This is observed in the process of meiosis. In addition, the nuclei take a direct part in the distribution of DNA molecules during cell division.

The second group includes processes connected directly with the formation of the protein synthesis apparatus. In eukaryotic nuclei, ribosomal "subunits" are formed. This is due to the combination of ribosomal RNA, synthesized in the nucleolus, and ribosomal proteins synthesized in the cytoplasm.

Thus, kernels are not only a container of hereditary data, but also a place where this information is reproduced and its functioning. In this regard, the violation or loss of any of the functions listed above is disastrous for the cell.

For example, disturbances in the reparation process can provoke a change in the primary structure of DNA, which automatically leads to a change in protein structures. This, in turn, will certainly affect the specific activity of proteins, which can change so much that it will not be able to provide the basic functions of the cell. This leads to her (cell) death.

Disorders in the process of DNA reduplication stop the multiplication of cells or cause the appearance of cells possessing an inadequate set of hereditary information, which is also very detrimental to the structure as a whole.

To the death of the cells, disturbances are also caused in the processes of distribution of the hereditary material during fission. Fallout due to lesions in the nucleus or as a result of a disorder in any regulatory processes of RNA synthesis (of any form) will automatically stop the protein synthesis or lead to serious errors in it.

It should be noted that the term "core" was first used in 1833 by Brown. So designated globular permanent structures in plant cells. Later this term was also used in the study of higher organisms.

As a rule, there is one nucleus in the cell (there are also multi-nuclear cells), consisting of a shell that separates it from the cytoplasm, nucleolus, chromatin, karyoplasm (nuclear juice). All these components are found in virtually all non-dividing eukaryotic structures.