Question

When comparing genomes from different species, scientists are often interested in the genome density, or the number of genes per number of nucleotides in the genome. genome density can be calculated from the size of the genome and the number of genes. what is the gene density of the human genome? calculate your answer in genes per mb (mega base pairs, or 1 million base pairs)?

Answer 1

12–15 genes per million base pairs

Step-by-step explanation:

Gene density is defined as the number of genes per million base pairs.

As per the human genome project, there are total 3 billion base pairs in human being as per the estimate till today.

However, the number of genes ranges from 20,000 to 25,000

Now mathematically gene density can be presented as

`(25000)/(3000000000) \\= 9`

In general, the gene density ranges from 12 -15 genes per million base pair

Answer 2

The human genome density ranges between 12-15 genes per Megabase pairs. This is because humans have approximately 2000 genes in a total of approximately 3 billion base pairs. However, some primitive organisms have an even larger gene density than humans. An example is bacteria with gene densities ranging between 100 – 500 genes/Mb. Gene density is therefore not a good characteristic in determining the complexity of an organism.