Calculating the Length of DNA
Peace be upon you
Dear viewers, this clip is a
continuation of Episode 18:
"The Amazing Miracle
The Length of DNA in Your Body"
It provides additional documentation
on the information presented
in Part I
How did we arrive at
this incredible number:
20 billion kilometers of
genetic material in your body?!
We mentioned the 2013 study published
in "Annals of Human Biology"
which summarized the estimates
from 30 books and studies
on the number of
cells in the body
You'll notice that the estimates
vary considerably:
from 1 trillion
to 10 thousand trillion cells
which is a huge difference!
We need a more specific number
The same 2013 study also
surveyed tens of other studies
that estimate the number of cells in
each organ of the body, as in this table
In this column we have the standard
deviation ( +/- ) of the numbers
The 2013 study summed up all
these numbers and concluded that
the total number of cells of the human
body was around 37.2 trillion
which is closer to the
(relatively) modest estimate for
the number of cells in the body
Well, how did they determine the length
of genetic material in a single cell?
The math here is relatively simple
It's the length of the base pair:
the smallest unit that makes up the DNA
multiplied by the number of base pairs
This comes to around 2 meters
which is a widely accepted figure
in the various studies
(plus or minus a small variation)
as shown in the table extracted from
"The Physics Factbook" encyclopedia
and listed in the book
"Molecular Biology of the Cell"
In Part I of this episode
we mentioned some websites with
higher estimates
such as "Scitable"
but we couldn't find other references
with lower numbers
Some might say, “There are references
that cite a shorter DNA length.”
Our answer is:
None of these references
detail the calculations on which
they based their results
I would like to reaffirm that
the actual length could be
longer than 20 billion kilometers
especially since some of
the cells in the body are
octoploid or tetraploid
which means
that they contain
several copies of the genetic material
Moreover, the mitochondria:
the powerhouse of the cell
also contains genetic material that is
not accounted for in the calculations
This genetic material, dear viewers
is arranged in
an amazing way
in the nuclei
as seen in this top view
which shows the strands of genetic
material wrapped around the Histones
Glory be to Allah
Lord of the Worlds!
This is the best documentation
I could find, and it is Allah
who grants success!
Peace be upon you all!