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A circular chromosome is a chromosome in bacteria, archaea, mitochondria, and chloroplasts, in the form of a molecule of circular DNA, unlike the linear chromosome of most eukaryotes. Most prokaryote chromosomes contain a circular DNA molecule. This has the major advantage of having no free ends to the DNA.
Bacteria do not have a membrane-bound nucleus, and their genetic material is typically a single circular bacterial chromosome of DNA located in the cytoplasm in an irregularly shaped body called the nucleoid. [68] The nucleoid contains the chromosome with its associated proteins and RNA.
Mitochondrial DNA is the small circular chromosome found inside mitochondria. These organelles, found in all eukaryotic cells, are the powerhouse of the cell. [1] The mitochondria, and thus mitochondrial DNA, are passed exclusively from mother to offspring through the egg cell.
Bacteria do not contain organelles in the same sense as eukaryotes. Instead, the chromosome and perhaps ribosomes are the only easily observable intracellular structures found in all bacteria. There do exist, however, specialized groups of bacteria that contain more complex intracellular structures, some of which are discussed below.
In addition to the chromosomes in the nucleus, organelles such as the chloroplasts and mitochondria have their own DNA. Mitochondria are sometimes said to have their own genome often referred to as the "mitochondrial genome". The DNA found within the chloroplast may be referred to as the "plastome". Like the bacteria they originated from ...
Since mitochondria have many features in common with bacteria, the endosymbiotic hypothesis is the more widely accepted of the two accounts. [120] [121] A mitochondrion contains DNA, which is organized as several copies of a single, usually circular chromosome.
Circular DNA is DNA that forms a closed loop and has no ends. Examples include: Plasmids, mobile genetic elements; cccDNA, formed by some viruses inside cell nuclei; Circular bacterial chromosomes; Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), and that of other plastids; Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA)
Mitochondria and plastids contain their own ribosomes; these are more similar to those of bacteria (70S) than those of eukaryotes. [74] Proteins created by mitochondria and chloroplasts use N-formylmethionine as the initiating amino acid, as do proteins created by bacteria but not proteins created by eukaryotic nuclear genes or archaea. [75] [76]