Gastrointestinal: Adjective referring collectively to the stomach and small and large intestines. The commonly used abbreviation for gastrointestinal is GI. (Outside of medicine, GI can also stand for galvanized iron, general issue or government issue-as in GI Joe).
Before the extracellular matrix is calcified, the tissue is called osteoid (bone-like) tissue. When the concentrations of calcium and phosphate ions rise high enough, they are deposited into the extracellular matrix, and the bone calcifies.
The nucleoid is the region in the prokaryotic cell that contains the main DNA material. As a side note, some DNA will be in other sections of the cell, but the primary material will be in the nucleoid. The nucleoid has an irregular shape compared to the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, which is circular. DNA in the nucleoid is circular and may have multiple copies at any given time. Additionally, DNA in the nucleoid may be supercoiled, meaning it has twists in the circular shape that makes it more compact. As the cells grow, the DNA in the nucleoid may extend into the cytosol, or cellular fluid.