On the length, weight and GC content of the human genome

BMC Research Notes
Allison PiovesanLorenza Vitale

Abstract

Basic parameters commonly used to describe genomes including length, weight and relative guanine-cytosine (GC) content are widely cited in absence of a primary source. By using updated data and original software we determined these values to the best of our knowledge as standard reference for the whole human nuclear genome, for each chromosome and for mitochondrial DNA. We also devised a method to calculate the relative GC content in the whole messenger RNA sequence set and in transcriptomes by multiplying the GC content of each gene by its mean expression level. The male nuclear diploid genome extends for 6.27 Gigabase pairs (Gbp), is 205.00 cm (cm) long and weighs 6.41 picograms (pg). Female values are 6.37 Gbp, 208.23 cm, 6.51 pg. The individual variability and the implication for the DNA informational density in terms of bits/volume were discussed. The genomic GC content is 40.9%. Following analysis in different transcriptomes and species, we showed that the greatest deviation was observed in the pathological condition analysed (trisomy 21 leukaemic cells) and in Caenorhabditis elegans. Our results may represent a solid basis for further investigation on human structural and functional genomics while also providing a framew...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 14, 2020·Bioinformatics·Quanhu ShengYan Guo
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Methods Mentioned

BETA
Illumina sequencing

Software Mentioned

TGCA
Transcriptomic GC Analysis ” ( TGCA )
TRAM
TRAM ( Transcriptome Mapper )
_ Extender
ORF

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