It adheres to Mendelian inheritance, with information coming from two parents, one male and one female—rather than matrilineally (through the mother) as in mitochondrial DNA.
[2] Nuclear DNA is a nucleic acid, a polymeric biomolecule or biopolymer, found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.
[6] Nuclear DNA is known as the molecule of life and contains the genetic instructions for the development of all eukaryotic organisms.
Techniques used include polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which allows one to utilize very small amounts of DNA by making copies of targeted regions on the molecule, also known as short tandem repeats (STRs).
Such an exchange means that the gametes produced through meiosis often exhibit considerable genetic variation.
Prior to undergoing meiosis, a cell goes through an interphase period in which it grows, replicates its chromosomes, and checks all of its systems to ensure that it is ready to divide.
The enzyme complex DNA polymerase engages the separated portion of the molecule and initiates the process of replication.
One strand is replicated continuously towards unwinding, separating the portion of the original DNA molecule; while the other strand is replicated discontinuously in the opposite direction with the formation of a series of short DNA segments called Okazaki fragments.
[12] Damage of nuclear DNA is a persistent problem arising from a variety of disruptive endogenous and exogenous sources.
[citation needed] Nuclear DNA damages are also implicated in aging[13] and neurodegenerative diseases.
The microhomology-mediated end joining pathway for repair of double-strand breaks is particularly prone to mutation.
However, the small proportion of mutations that prove to be advantageous provide the genetic variation upon which natural selection operates to generate new adaptations.