Definition of Chromatin

1. Noun. The readily stainable substance of a cell nucleus consisting of DNA and RNA and various proteins; during mitotic division it condenses into chromosomes.

Exact synonyms: Chromatin Granule
Generic synonyms: Body Substance
Group relationships: Cell Nucleus, Karyon, Nucleus, Chromosome
Specialized synonyms: Sex Chromatin
Derivative terms: Chromatinic

Definition of Chromatin

1. n. Tissue which is capable of being stained by dyes.

2. n. The deeply staining substance of the nucleus and chromosomes of cells, now supposed to be the physical basis of inheritance, and generally regarded as the same substance as the hypothetical idioplasm or germ plasm.

Definition of Chromatin

1. Noun. (biology) A complex of DNA, RNA and proteins within the cell nucleus out of which chromosomes condense during cell division. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Chromatin

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Chromatin

1. Stainable material of interphase nucleus consisting of nucleic acid and associated histone protein packed into nucleosomes. Euchromatin is loosely packed and accessible to RNA polymerases, whereas heterochromatin is highly condensed and probably transcriptionally inactive. This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology (11 Mar 2008)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Chromatin

chromatic number
chromatic numbers
chromatic scale
chromatic scales
chromatic spectrum
chromatic vision
chromatical
chromatically
chromaticism
chromaticisms
chromaticities
chromaticity
chromatics
chromatid
chromatids
chromatin (current term)
chromatin 3'-phosphatase-5'-hydroxy kinase
chromatin body
chromatin granule
chromatin network
chromatin nucleolus
chromatin particles
chromatinic
chromatinolysis
chromatinorrhexis
chromatins
chromatism
chromatisms
chromatite
chromatium

Literary usage of Chromatin

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London by Royal Society (Great Britain) (1892)
"On the Demonstration of the Presence of Iron in chromatin by ... That in Amphibia the haemoglobin is derived from the very abundant chromatin of the ..."

2. The Scientific Monthly by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1916)
"Some bacteriologists (Fischer) maintain that bacteria have neither nucleus nor chromatin; others admit the presence of chromatin but deny the existence of a ..."

3. Sexual Reproduction and the Organization of the Nucleus in Certain Mildews by Robert Almer Harper (1905)
"The whole chromatin mass now begins to contract and becomes more dense (fig. 43). This contraction is always away from the ..."

4. ... The Cell in Development and Inheritance by Edmund Beecher Wilson (1906)
"87) at once suggest themselves, and one cannot avoid the thought that the smallest chromatin-grains may successively group themselves in larger and larger ..."

5. Pathogenic Micro-organisms: Including Bacteria and Protozoa; a Practical by William Hallock Park, Anna Wessels Williams (1905)
"Then the red chromatin body loosens up and presently its substance divides ... By the time that chromatin division is completed the angular chromatin masses ..."

6. The Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics (1907)
"At this stage the two masses of chromatin shown in the last figure have moved apart and in the smaller has again divided. The three main masses thus ..."

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