Episode 18 - Part 2 - Calculating the Length of Genetic Material

Introduction and Objective of the Segment

Peace be upon you, dear brothers. This segment is a complement to episode (18) of the Journey of Certainty, titled (The Amazing Thing That Barely Seems Believable: The Length of Genetic Material in Your Body). The goal of this segment is to increase the documentation of the strange information presented there.

How did the research arrive at this staggering number? (20 billion) kilometers of genetic material in your body.

Calculating the Length of Genetic Material

Estimating the Number of Cells in the Body

We mentioned the study published in 2013 in the journal "Annals of Human Biology," which summarized estimates from (30) previous books and studies on the number of cells in the body. You will notice that the estimates vary greatly, from 10^12 cells (a trillion) to 10,000 trillion.

Alright, the difference is significant. We want a more specific number. Alright. Therefore, the 2013 study also conducted a survey of dozens of other studies to estimate the number of cells in each organ of the body (as in this table). Here we have the standard deviation: meaning +/- from the number.

This 2013 study collected all these numbers and concluded that the number of cells in the human body is approximately (37.2) trillion, which is closer to the relatively modest estimates of the number of cells in the body.

Calculating the Length of Genetic Material in a Single Cell

Alright, how did they calculate the length of genetic material in a single cell? The calculation here is relatively simple: the length of the base pair "Base Pair" - the smallest unit that makes up genetic material - multiplied by the number of base pairs. The result is 2 meters, a number that is largely agreed upon by studies, slightly less or slightly more as in the table we presented from the "The Physics Factbook" encyclopedia and as in the book "Molecular Biology of the Cell."

I mentioned in the episode that there are sites that mention higher estimates, such as "Scitable," and I did not find any other reference that provides calculations reaching a lower result. Someone might say: But there are references that talk about a shorter length. The answer is that none of these sites mention the calculations on which they based their result.

Additional Notes and Documentation

I reiterate that the actual length may be more than (20) billion kilometers, especially since some cells in the body are "Octoploid" or "Tetraploid," meaning they contain more than one copy of genetic material. Also, the cell's power generators - mitochondria "Mitochondria" - contain genetic material as well, which was not taken into account in the calculations.

Arrangement of Genetic Material

This genetic material, brothers, is arranged in an amazing way, like chromosomes, as if we were looking at it from a vertical projection. This is the thread of genetic material wrapped around histones "Histones". So glory be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

This is the best I could do in terms of documentation, and may Allah grant success. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.