Question

The nuclear genome of a single human cell (i.e., the entire diploid complement) contains about 6.6 billion (6.6 × 109) base pairs of DNA. If synthesis at each replication fork occurs at an average rate of 50 nucleotides per second, all the DNA is replicated in 5 minutes. Assume that replication is initiated simultaneously at all origins. Assuming that the origins are approximately equally distributed across the chromosomes, what is the average number of origins per human chromosome?

Answer 1

The average number of origins per human chromosome is between 652 and 1087.

Step-by-step explanation:

The average number of origins per human chromosome can be calculated by dividing the total number of origins by the number of chromosomes. The human genome has approximately 30,000 to 50,000 origins of replication, which are distributed across the chromosomes. Since humans have 46 chromosomes, the average number of origins per human chromosome would be between 652 and 1087.