DNA system provided the first clear suggestion that DNA carries genetic information. In 1933, while studying virgin sea urchin eggs, Jean Brachet suggested that DNA is found in the cell nucleus and that RNA is present exclusively in the cytoplasm. At the time, "yeast nucleic acid" (RNA) was thought to occur only in plants, while "thymus nucleic acid" (DNA) only in animals. The latter was thought to be a tetramer, with the function of buffering cellular pH. In 1937, William Astbury produced the first X-ray diffraction patterns that showed that DNA had a regular structure. In 1943, Oswald Avery, along with
Hürthle cell cells with distinct cell borders. The cytoplasm of the oncocytes in Hürthle cell adenomas and carcinomas is characterized by an eosinophilic granular nature, which is commonly due to the oncocytes' high content of mitochondria. Some of these cells can contain up to 5,000 mitochondria, which fills the cytoplasm to the point of nearly excluding other organelles. This high amount of mitochondria is reported to be a result of mutations in the mitochondrial DNA. Some scientists have identified these mutations as deletions in the mitochondrial DNA of Hürthle cells found in neoplasms and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Hürthle cell cancer can be separated