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Sequence of human chromosome 21
Genome Biology volume 1, Article number: spotlight-20000509-01 (2000)
Chromosome 21 may have as few as 225 active genes in its 33.8 Mb of DNA, according to the sequence published electronically by Nature on May 8 (and published in print on May 18 as Hattori et al. Nature 2000, 405:311-319). This is roughly half the gene density of the only other completely sequenced chromosome arm, that of chromosome 22, and it includes a 7 Mb stretch - larger than the Escherichia coligenome - that contains only one gene. Extrapolating from the average gene density of chromosomes 21 and 22 gives a total number of human genes that is closer to 40,000 than the estimated 70-140,000. The low density of genes on chromosome 21 may explain why children with Down's syndrome, who are trisomic for chromosome 21, can survive.
References
Nature magazine's homepage, [http://www.nature.com/nature/]
The DNA sequence of human chromosome 22
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Wells, W. Sequence of human chromosome 21. Genome Biol 1, spotlight-20000509-01 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20000509-01
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20000509-01
Keywords
- Active Gene
- Human Gene
- Human Chromosome
- Average Gene
- Gene Density