Saturday, April 5, 2008

Human genome

The human genome is the genome of Homo sapiens, which is stored on 24 distinct chromosomes (22 autosomal + X + Y) containing an estimated 20,000–25,000 genes[1]. The entire human genome occupies a total of just over 3 billion DNA base pairs, and has a data size of approximately 750 Megabytes[2], which is slightly larger than the capacity of a standard Compact Disc.

The Human Genome Project has produced a reference sequence of the euchromatic human genome, which is used worldwide in biomedical sciences. The human genome had fewer genes than expected, with only about 1.5% coding for proteins, and the rest comprised by RNA genes, regulatory sequences, introns and controversially so-called junk DNA.[3]

A graphical representation of the normal human karyotype.
A graphical representation of the normal human karyotype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genome

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