Function General Intro: The Nucleus is the central structure which
contains the cell's genetic material.
Resources: UTMB Cell Nucleus
Page - A comprehensive site providing information on various
aspects of the nucleus. (including a very nice labelled E.M. image)
Wikipedia Nucleus
Entry - A rather comprehensive overview of information on the
nucleus, complete with academic sitations and some diagrams. Still,
bear in mind that this is a Wikipedia article, and ultimately isn't
concidered an academically reliable source.
NPD: Nuclear
Protein Database - A site with detailed information on the structure,
and protein makeup, of the various nuclear structures.
The
Electron Microscopic Atlas - The nucleus page from the EMA,
with a wide range of E.M. images of the nucleus and its structures.
CellNucleus.org
- A site entirely devoted to cell nuclei. Go figure.
Images
Click on an image to see a full sized version.
This cell originates from a squamous cell carcinoma,
a type of skin cancer. Before being photographed with an electron
microscope, the cell has been frozen and split open to reveal its
nucleus (central red area). (image
and description provided by
the Biochemical Image Awards site)
An Indian Muntjac deer skin fibroblast cells fluorescence
stained so that the the nucleus shows up in green, the cytoskeletal
filamentous actin network in purple, and the cellular mitochondria
in red. (image
and description provided by OlympusMicro.com)
Annother Indian Muntjac cell, with the DNA in the
nucleus fluorescently highlighted in blue. (image
and description provided by OlympusMicro.com)
Shown here is an electron micrograph of a portion
of a cell from the pancreas. The cell has a large, central nucleus
with scattered chromatin, many mitochondria, large quantities of
rough ER, and many small vesicles. Not only is the cell itself enclosed
by a membrane, but the nucleus is surrounded by a double membrane
system called the nuclear envelope, and certain organelles are also
membrane-enclosed. (image
and description provided by ThinkQuest.org)
Shown here is the cytoskeleton of a cultured epithelial
cell. Microtubules are shown in green, actin is shown in red and
DNA is in blue. Image by Steve Rogers.(image
by Steve Rogers, image and description provided by the
Imaging Technology Group)
An electron micrograph of Chlamydomonas, a photosynthetic
eukaryotic cell. Some of the organelles which can be seen from the
micrograph are the nucleus (center), mitochondrion, and chloroplasts
(dark, irregularly shaped). The large circle near the bottom of
the cell is the organism's food reserve, in the form of starch granules.(image
and description provided by ThinkQuest.org)
A color enhanced T.E.M. image. The nucleus is on
the upper right rimmed in purple.(image
and description provided by Micro
Angela)
TEM of a freeze fracture replica of a mouse pancreas
cell. The nuclear pores on the surface of the nucleus are clearly
vissible here.
(image and description provided by SCSM)
Structural Details
Click on a sub-structure to view a page devoted to it.