- Genome
- All of the genetic information, the entire genetic complement, all of the hereditary material possessed by an organism. Humans and many other higher animals actually have two genomes, which together make up the total genome: {{}}A chromosomal genome — inside the nucleus of the cell in the familiar form of chromosomes; and A mitochondrial genome — outside the nucleus in the cytoplasm of the cell, usually in the form of one round chromosome (the mitochondrial chromosome). The historical tendency has been to focus on the human genome somewhat to the exclusion of the genomes of other organisms. This anthropomorphic view of genomics is perhaps understandable but is a narrow view of the world. There are many other genomes including, for example, the: {{}}Arabidopsis thaliana (mustard-weed) genome Caenorhabditis elegans (roundworm) genome Drosophila (fruit fly) genome Haemophilus influenzae (bacterial) genome Mouse genome Rice genome Vibrio cholerae (cholera bacteria) genome Yeast genome The word genome dates to 1930. It was cobbled from the German Gen, gene + -om (from the Greek soma, body). In the 1990s genome went from being a highly specialized term not even in much usage in genetics to a word that is now in common general currency. As with all revolutions, the Genetics Revolution has ushered in a revolution in words.
* * *1. A complete set of chromosomes derived from one parent, the haploid number of a gamete. 2. The total gene complement of a set of chromosomes found in higher life forms (the haploid set in a eukaryotic cell), or the functionally similar but simpler linear arrangements found in bacteria and viruses. SEE ALSO: Human G. Project. [gene + chromosome]
* * *
* * *
n.the total genetic material of an organism, comprising the genes contained in its chromosomes; sometimes the term is used for the basic haploid set of chromosomes of an organism. The human genome comprises 23 pairs of chromosomes (see Human Genome Project).* * *
ge·nome (jeґnōm) [gene + chromosome] the entirety of the genetic information encoded by the nucleotide sequence of an organism, cell, organelle, or virus; it is DNA in eukaryotes and prokaryotes, and DNA or RNA in viruses. In a human being, the genome size is approximately 3 billion base pairs of DNA and approximately 25,000 genes. genomic adj
Medical dictionary. 2011.
