Article: Genes

Genes


A gene is a unit of genetic information that codes for a single biological function or product. Genes are found on chromosomes and are made up of nucleic acid (deoxyribonucleic acid [ DNA ] for most organisms) and proteins.

COMPARISON OF GENE NUMBERS AND DNA FROM DIFFERENT SPECIES

Organism Number of genes Number of base pairs (millions)
source: Bork, Peer, and Copely, Richard (2001). "The Draft Sequence: Filling in the Gaps." Nature 409:818 820.
Yeast 5,800 12
Caenorhabditis elegans (worm) 19,099 97
Fruit fly 13,601 116
Arabidopsis (plant) 25,498 115
Human 30,000 40,000 2,700

The information is contained in the sequence of the ...

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