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Genome

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thegenomeof anorganismis the whole of itshereditaryinformationencodedin itsDNA(or, for someviruses,RNA). This includes both thegenesand the non-coding sequences of the DNA. Professor Hans Winkler coined the term in 1920.[1]

Winkler's definition, in translation, runs:

"I propose the expressiongenomefor thehaploidchromosomeset, which, together with the pertinentprotoplasm,specifies the material foundations of thespecies.... "[2]p165

However, no single haploid chromosome set defines even the DNA of a species. Because of the huge variety ofallelescarried by apopulation,every individual is genetically different. Even a diploid individual carries genetic variety. For that reasonDobzhanskypreferred "set of chromosomes",[3]and the definition now must be broader than Winklers' definition. The genome of a haploid chromosome set is merely asampleof the total genetic variety of a species.

The term 'genome' can be applied specifically to mean the complete set ofnuclear DNA(the 'nuclear genome') but can also be used oforganellesthat contain their own DNA, as with themitochondrialgenome or thechloroplastgenome.

Genome sizes

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Organism Genome size (base pairs) Note
Virus,BacteriophageMS2 3569 First sequenced RNA-genome[4]
Virus, SV40 5224[5]
Virus, Phage Φ-X174 5386 First sequenced DNA-genome[6]
Virus,Phage λ 5×104
Bacterium,CandidatusCarsonella ruddii 1.6×105 Smallest non-viral genome, Feb 2007
Bacterium,Escherichia coli 4×106 Best-researched bacterium.[7]
Bacterium,Solibactoer usitatus 1×107 Largest known bacterial genome
Protist,Amoebadubia 6.7×1011 Largest known genome, but disputed.[8]
Plant,Arabidopsisthaliana 1.57×108 First plant genome sequenced, Dec 2000.[9]
Plant,Genlisea margaretae 6.34×107 Smallest recordedflowering plantgenome, 2006.[9]
Plant,Fritillariaassyrica 1.3×1011
Plant,Populus trichocarpa 4.8×108 First tree genome, Sept 2006
Yeast,Saccharomycescerevisiae 2×107
Fungus,Aspergillusnidulans 3×107
Nematode,Caenorhabditis elegans 9.8×107 First multicellular animal genome, December 1998.[10]
Insect,Drosophila melanogasteraka fruit fly 1.3×108
Insect,Bombyx moriaka silk moth 5.30×108
Insect,Apis melliferaaka honey bee 1.77×109
Fish,Tetraodon nigroviridis,type of Puffer fish 3.85×108 Smallest vertebrate genome known
Mammal,Homo sapiens 3×109
Fish,Protopterus aethiopicusaka marbled lungfish 1.3×1011 Largest vertebrate genome known

Note:The DNA from a single human cell has a length of ~1.8 m (but at a width of ~2.4 nanometers).

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References

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  1. Hans Winkler, Professor ofBotanyat the University ofHamburg,Germany,as a combination of the wordsgeneandchromosome.Joshua Lederberg and Alexa T. McCray (2001). "'Ome Sweet 'Omics -- A genealogical treasury of words ".The Scientist.15(7).
    An online copy is available here:[1]Archived2006-09-29 at theWayback Machine
  2. Winkler H. 1920.Verbreitung und Ursache der Parthenogenesis im Pflanzen- und Tierreiche.Fischer, Jena.
  3. Dobzhansky T. 1937.Genetics and the origin of species.Columbia N.Y.
  4. Fiers W.; et al. (1976). "Complete nucleotide-sequence of bacteriophage MS2-RNA - primary and secondary structure of replicase gene".Nature.260(5551): 500–507.Bibcode:1976Natur.260..500F.doi:10.1038/260500a0.PMID1264203.S2CID4289674.
  5. Fiers W.; et al. (1978). "Complete nucleotide sequence of SV40 DNA".Nature.273(5658): 113–120.Bibcode:1978Natur.273..113F.doi:10.1038/273113a0.PMID205802.S2CID1634424.
  6. Sanger F.; et al. (1977). "Nucleotide sequence of bacteriophage phi X174 DNA".Nature.265(5596): 687–695.Bibcode:1977Natur.265..687S.doi:10.1038/265687a0.PMID870828.S2CID4206886.
  7. Frederick R. Blattner; et al. (1997)."The complete genome sequence ofEscherichia coliK-12 ".Science.277(5331): 1453–1462.doi:10.1126/science.277.5331.1453.PMID9278503.
  8. ScienceShot: biggest genome everArchived2010-10-11 at theWayback Machine,comments: "The measurement forAmoeba dubiaand other protozoa, which were reported to have very large genomes, were made in the 1960s using a rough biochemical approach which is now considered to be an unreliable method for accurate genome size determinations ".
  9. 9.09.1Greilhuber J.et al.2006. Smallest angiosperm genomes found in Lentibulariaceae, with chromosomes of bacterial size.Plant Biology.8:770-777.
  10. TheC. eleganssequencing consortium (1998)."Genome sequence of the nematodeC. elegans:a platform for investigating biology ".Science.282(5396): 2012–2018.Bibcode:1998Sci...282.2012..doi:10.1126/science.282.5396.2012.PMID9851916.no
  • Benfey P. and Protopapas A.D. 2004.Essentials of genomics.Prentice Hall.
  • Brown T.A. 2002.Genomes 2.Bios Scientific Publishers.
  • Gibson G. and Muse S.V. 2004.A primer of genome science.2nd ed. Sinauer Assoc.
  • Gregory T.R. (ed) 2005.The evolution of the genome.Elsevier.
  • Reece R.J. 2004.Analysis of genes and genomes.Wiley.
  • Saccone C. and Pesole G. 2003.Handbook of comparative genomics.Wiley.
  • Werner E. 2003. In silico multicellular systems biology and minimal genomes.Drug Discov Today.8(24):1121-7.PubMed
  • Witzany G. 2007. Natural genome editing competences of viruses.Acta Biotheoretica.[2]

Other websites

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