Its actually only red blood cells that don’t have a nucleus and even then, it’s only ‘mature’ red blood cells. Red blood cells (RBC) are first made in the bone marrow and at this stage, they DO have a nucleus, that contains the DNA. But… then they get kicked out into the blood stream, they mature and lose that nucleus.
The whole purpose of the red blood cell is to carry oxygen around the body. Without a nucleus, the red blood cell can use its whole volume to pack in as much haemaglobin as possible (the molecule within the red blood cell that oxygen is attached to) so then it can carry as much oxygen as possible!
Mammals are the only vertebrates with no nucleus in the red blood cells – birds, reptiles, amphibians etc all have a nucleus. 🙂
Dear nickskii,
Hi! you were listening to my chat session! cool.
Its actually only red blood cells that don’t have a nucleus and even then, it’s only ‘mature’ red blood cells. Red blood cells (RBC) are first made in the bone marrow and at this stage, they DO have a nucleus, that contains the DNA. But… then they get kicked out into the blood stream, they mature and lose that nucleus.
The whole purpose of the red blood cell is to carry oxygen around the body. Without a nucleus, the red blood cell can use its whole volume to pack in as much haemaglobin as possible (the molecule within the red blood cell that oxygen is attached to) so then it can carry as much oxygen as possible!
Mammals are the only vertebrates with no nucleus in the red blood cells – birds, reptiles, amphibians etc all have a nucleus. 🙂
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