Which cells in human body have no nucleus?
- A.Muscle cells
- B.Phagocytic cells
- C.Red blood cells
- D.Ciliated cells
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Red blood cells. Mature red blood cells, or erythrocytes, lose their nucleus before they enter the blood. Losing the nucleus, and the mitochondria too, leaves more room for haemoglobin, the iron-rich protein that carries oxygen, and gives the cell its flexible biconcave disc shape, which lets it squeeze through narrow capillaries. With no nucleus, red blood cells cannot divide or repair themselves; they live about 120 days, are made in the red bone marrow and are broken down mainly in the spleen, often called the graveyard of red blood cells. Platelets also lack a nucleus, but they are cell fragments, not whole cells. A is wrong, because muscle cells have nuclei, and skeletal muscle fibres even have many. B is wrong, because phagocytic cells such as neutrophils and macrophages have a nucleus; a neutrophil's nucleus has several lobes. D is wrong, because the ciliated cells lining the windpipe and the oviduct are normal cells with a nucleus. Exam tip: human red blood cells have no nucleus, live 120 days, are born in bone marrow and end in the spleen.
Practice Questions
View allThe fact that the planets move around the Sun, not in circles but in ellipses, was first demonstrated by
- A.Galileo
- B.Martin Luther
- C.Johannes Kepler
- D.Copernicus
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In 1609 Kepler showed that the planets move around the Sun in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements is correct?
- A.Urea is produced in liver.
- B.Urea is produced in blood.
- C.Urea is produced from digestion of starch.
- D.Urea is produced in lung and kidney.
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Liver cells turn the toxic ammonia released from the breakdown of amino acids into urea through the ornithine cycle, also called the urea cycle.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is the correct sequence of passage of light in a compound microscope?
- A.Condenser-Objective lens-Eyepiece-Body tube
- B.Objective lens-Condenser-Body tube-Eyepiece
- C.Condenser-Objective lens-Body tube-Eyepiece
- D.Eyepiece-Objective lens-Body tube-Mirror
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Light passes through the condenser to the specimen, is picked up by the objective lens, travels up the body tube and reaches the eye through the eyepiece.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements regarding haemoglobin is correct?
- A.Haemoglobin present in RBC can carry only oxygen but not carbon dioxide.
- B.Haemoglobin of RBC can carry both oxygen and carbon dioxide.
- C.Haemoglobin of RBC can carry only carbon dioxide.
- D.Haemoglobin is only used for blood clotting and not for carrying gases.
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It binds oxygen at its iron-containing haem groups and carries some carbon dioxide on its protein chains. Each haemoglobin molecule has four polypeptide chains and four haem groups, and each haem iron can hold one oxygen molecule, forming oxyhaemoglobin in the lungs.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements regarding histone proteins is correct?
- A.Histones are proteins that are present in mitochondrial membrane.
- B.Histones are proteins that are present in nucleus in association with DNA.
- C.Histones are proteins associated with lipids in the cytosol.
- D.Histones are proteins associated with carbohydrates in the cytosol.
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They are the proteins around which DNA winds to form chromatin in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. Histones are small basic proteins, rich in the positively charged amino acids lysine and arginine, which attract the negatively charged phosphate groups of DNA.
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