Chromosome 1 (human)
Chromosome 1 is the designation for the largest human chromosome. Humans have two copies of chromosome 1, as they do with all of the autosomes, which are the non-sex chromosomes. Chromosome 1 spans about 249 million nucleotide base pairs, which are the basic units of information for DNA. It represents about 8% of the total DNA in human cells.
Identifying genes on each chromosome is an active area of genetic research. Chromosome 1 is currently thought to have 4,316 genes, exceeding previous predictions based on its size. It was the last completed chromosome, sequenced two decades after the beginning of the Human Genome Project.
The number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is about 740,000.
Read more about Chromosome 1 (human): Diseases & Disorders
Famous quotes containing the word chromosome:
“We become male automatically because of the Y chromosome and the little magic peanut, but if we are to become men we need the help of other men—we need our fathers to model for us and then to anoint us, we need our buddies to share the coming-of-age rituals with us and to let us join the team of men, and we need myths of heroes to inspire us and to show us the way.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)