Human Genome

Chromosomes and Genes

Human Beings have 23 Chromosomes. There are 22 pairs plus 1 additional pair. These Chromosomes contain our Genetic Code!

The "Human Male Chromosome". You are male if you possess an "X" and a "Y" Chromosome.

Our sexuality is completely determined by the "X" and "Y" chromosomes.

In these diagrams the Chromosomes are arranged in order of length.

A typical chromosome is shown below. Biologists use a schematic diagram called an "ideogram" to represent the actual chromosome.

Knowledge of the Genetic Code like every great scientific discovery can be used for great good or for great evil.

Click on the chromosome to see what the Human Genome will mean for us all.

		Each unit is composed of the sequence of letters shown. The letters of the code are "A, C, T and G which stand for the four nucleotides.
		These letters are arranged in triplets. Each triplet codes for one of the 22 amino acids.

There are 3.3 thousand million (3.3 billion) letter entries in our genetic code.

• Each chromosomes contains a thousand or more genes.

• There are about 38,000 genes in the human genetic code.

• Each gene may have 20,000 to 30,000 "letters".

This is roughly the number of letters in 900 Bibles.

This is most amazing, because the basic alphabet has only four letters; a, c, t and g.

Uncoiled and stretched out end to end, a single DNA strand would be about three feet long.

Of course it is unbelievably thin, only several atoms wide.

If we were to take the DNA strand from every cell in our body and place them end to end,
 the resulting strand would easily reach around
our solar system!