Human cells have 23 pairs of chromosomes (22
pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes), giving a total of 46 per
cell.
In
addition to these, human cells have many hundreds of copies of the mitochondrial
genome.
A threadlike structure of nucleic acids and
protein found in the nucleus of most living cells, carrying genetic information
in the form of genes.
A chromosome is a deoxyribonucleic acid molecule
with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. Most eukaryotic
chromosomes include packaging proteins which, aided by chaperone proteins, bind
to and condense the DNA molecule to prevent it from becoming an unmanageable
tangle.