What Is A Cell Nucleus?

The nucleus is the central information processing center in the cell. It is usually the largest and most prominent organelle and can be seen using an ordinary light microscope. It is usually spherical, about 10 micrometers in diameter and has a darker patch called the nucleolus.

The nucleus is enclosed within its own membrane, the nuclear membrane, or nuclear envelope. This, like all membranes in the cell is a lipid bilayer.

Inside the nucleus is the DNA of the cell. This complex molecule carries all the information, in coded form, that the cell needs to make a complete copy of itself in cell division. The genes in the DNA are also used as templates to make proteins and these, produced at different times and for different reasons, control all the activities of the cell. Most cells have a cell nucleus but there are exceptions. Red blood cells in humans and mammals lose their cell nucleus. They live only for 120 days and carry oxygen around the body ~ they don't carry out complex processes and don't divide ~ so nature has decided they can do without one when they are fully developed.

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