entirety of an organism's hereditary information; genome of organism (encoded by the genomic DNA) is the (biological) information of heredity which is passed from one generation of organism to the next; is transcribed to produce various RNAs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The genome of an organism is the whole of its hereditary information encoded in its DNA (or, for some viruses, RNA). This includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA. Professor Hans Winkler coined the term in 1920.[1]
Winkler's definition, in translation, runs:
However, no single haploid chromosome set defines even the DNA of a species. Because of the huge variety of alleles carried by a population, every individual is genetically different. Even a diploid individual carries genetic variety. For that reason Dobzhansky preferred "set of chromosomes",[3] and the definition now must be broader than Winklers' definition. The genome of a haploid chromosome set is merely a sample of the total genetic variety of a species.
The term 'genome' can be applied specifically to mean the complete set of nuclear DNA (the 'nuclear genome') but can also be used of organelles that contain their own DNA, as with the mitochondrial genome or the chloroplast genome.
Organism | Genome size (base pairs) | Note |
---|---|---|
Virus, Bacteriophage MS2 | 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, Candidatus Carsonella 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, Amoeba dubia | 6.7×1011 | Largest known genome, but disputed.[8] |
Plant, Arabidopsis thaliana | 1.57×108 | First plant genome sequenced, Dec 2000.[9] |
Plant, Genlisea margaretae | 6.34×107 | Smallest recorded flowering plant genome, 2006.[9] |
Plant, Fritillaria assyrica | 1.3×1011 | |
Plant, Populus trichocarpa | 4.8×108 | First tree genome, Sept 2006 |
Yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae | 2×107 | |
Fungus, Aspergillus nidulans | 3×107 | |
Nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans | 9.8×107 | First multicellular animal genome, December 1998.[10] |
Insect, Drosophila melanogaster aka fruit fly | 1.3×108 | |
Insect, Bombyx mori aka silk moth | 5.30×108 | |
Insect, Apis mellifera aka 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 aethiopicus aka 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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