Nuclear DNA be advantageous provide the genetic variation upon which natural selection operates to generate new adaptations. Nuclear DNA Nuclear DNA (nDNA), or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid, is the DNA contained within each cell nucleus of a eukaryotic organism. Nuclear DNA encodes for the majority of the genome in eukaryotes, with mitochondrial DNA and plastid DNA coding for the rest. Nuclear DNA adheres to Mendelian inheritance, with information coming from two parents, one male and one female, rather than matrilineally (through the mother) as in mitochondrial DNA. Nuclear DNA is a nucleic acid, a polymeric biomolecule or biopolymer, found in the nucleus of
DNA methylation in cancer and predisposes the cell and its descendants to progression to cancer. Another review also indicated an early role for hypermethylation of DNA repair genes in cancer. If a gene necessary for DNA repair is hypermethylated, resulting in deficient DNA repair, DNA damages will accumulate. Increased DNA damage tends to cause increased errors during DNA synthesis, leading to mutations that can give rise to cancer. If hypermethylation of a DNA repair gene is an early step in carcinogenesis, then it may also occur in the normal-appearing tissues surrounding the cancer from which the cancer arose (the field defect). See the table