Length of Human DNA - (Jun/21/2006 )
Question...
"What is the length of Human DNA"
i have heard answers from 1.8m to 3m in length
could one ya please clear my doubt... THANK YOU!
OUTLAW 
"What is the length of Human DNA"
i have heard answers from 1.8m to 3m in length
could one ya please clear my doubt... THANK YOU!
OUTLAW
It depends on how tall you are!
I've heard about 1.5 m
well...it's not all in one long string, it's packed into chromatin...and I'll bet there's some variation between individuals (do persons with trisomy 23 have an extra 40 or 50 cm? do persons with Turner's have 30 or 40 cm less?)
I was told in school that you have approx 2m if you put it all end to end...I suspect it's all a rough estimate anyhow, as bits and pieces are coiled and packed differently and it's not always in the same form
if we have 10 bases per turn and each turn has 34 °A in length (3.4 nm), and if we have 3*10(9) bp... then we should have 102000000 nm... that is 1.02 m of DNA per cell... wow and I complain that I am running out of space in my room
I also heard as swanny wrote, as tall as one is, approx. 1.5 m
remember the different forms of DNA Z A and ... they are not all 34 °A in length (3.4 nm)
An old textbook sitting next to me says 1.74m based on a haploid set of chromosomes consisting of 3 x 10(9) bp (I presume this includes the X and Y; ie. each autosome and both sex chromosomes???). Obviously females have more than males!
I gather the 3.0m estimate is based on a diploid set of c'somes.
Somehow I don't think you're going to get a consensus view on this one.............