pete wrote:Sir tnf, There is some misunderstanding in here, I precised these infos were not my own.tnf wrote:Pete, before you explain any more DNA information to me...please remember that I was a molecular biologist...I appreciate the explanation though.pete wrote: Not my own.
The DNA molecule is a double thread, coiled into a helix. The genetically important constituents of DNA are four nucleotides
The total DNA in a human cell, if the DNA molecules of each chromosome were lined up end to end, would be some 6 feet in length
Each human individual is made up of several hundred million million microscopic cells (plus considerable noncellular material such as bone and water). Cells come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
So TNF do we have to multiply several hundred million million microscopic cells X 6 feet.X 1 or 4 ?
Thanks for your trivial question
Pete
Just take the 6 feet and multiply it by the number of nucleated cells in the body (its an estimate) - remember, muscle cells are multinucleated, red blood cells are enucleated during hematopoeisis, etc.
There are varying estimates as to the number of cells in an adult, but lets use a common estimate of 10 trillion.
So, do the math - about 6 feet/cell x 10 trillion cells = how many miles? Now convert that to astronomical units. People are pretty surprised when they see how much there is. And even more interesting is the fact that each of those 10 trillion cells (with nuclei) have pretty much ALL the instructions for making a whole human. The entire instruction manual for a human is crammed into something as small as a cell nucleus. Talk about compression of information.
I know from your replies that you aren't ( un deux de pique ).
Is it true that we have like 30 some feet of colons inside?
Pete
I see now pete...when you said 'not my own' I wasn't sure what you meant - at first I thought you were saying that your own cells didn't have 6 feet of DNA in them.
Not 30 feet of colons. The colon is generally used to describe the large intestine. We have many feet of small intestine, where most of the digestion takes place. The small intestine also has a tremendous surface area do to all the tiny fingerlike projections in it.