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What is a gene?

What is a gene?. A gene is a particular s equence (a string) of nucleotides on a particular site of a chromosome. It is made up of combinations of A, T, C, and G. These unique combinations code for a particular amino acid, much as letters join together to form words. .

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What is a gene?

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  1. What is a gene? A geneis a particular sequence (a string) of nucleotides on a particular site of a chromosome. It is made up of combinations of A, T, C, and G. These unique combinations code for a particular amino acid, much as letters join together to form words.

  2. Back to chromosomes and genes A chromosome isnature’sgreat packaging experiment – itcontainstightlycoiled DNA aroundspecialproteins. The DNA of a human being’s 23 chromosomes, whenuncoiled, is 2 meters long!!

  3. Genome A genome is made up of all of the DNA in an organism’s chromosomes—it is all of its genetic information.

  4. Genome=library • An analogy to the human genome stored on DNA is that of instructions stored in a library. • The library would contain 46 books (chromosomes). • The books range in size from 400 to 3340 pages (genes), which is 48 to 250 million letters (A,C,G,T) per book.

  5. So, the library contains over six billion letters total; • The library fits into a cell nucleus the size of a pinpoint; • A copy of the library (all 46 books) is contained in almost every cell of our body.

  6. The HumanGenome Project • A 13-yearproject (1990-2003) thatdiscovered all estimated 20,000 to 25,000 humangenes. • The projectalsodiscovered the completesequence of all 3 billion DNA bases (A,T,C,G). • All the information in stored in databases.

  7. The HumanGenome Project • Whybother? Just a few reasons…. • Improveddiseasediagnosis • Determininggeneticpredisposition to disease • Developinggenetherapy • Designing custom drugs

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