• Question: what is a genome?

    Asked by anon-361200 to Louisse on 28 Mar 2023.
    • Photo: Louisse Mirabueno

      Louisse Mirabueno answered on 28 Mar 2023:

      What’s a genome you ask? It’s basically what makes us… us. You can see it as sort of an instruction manual of yourself, or the recipe what makes you you. Scientists look at the genome to, for example, find genes that can tell us more about us, like our eye colour, or even diseases. Genes are what make up a genome (kind of like building blocks or lego). Everyone has mutations in their genomes, and that’s what makes each of us so unique (nothing to do with X-Men mutants though I’m afraid!). Unfortunately, some of those mutations are not good, and they can lead to diseases like cancer.

Comments

  • Photo: Edward

    Edward commented on :

    A genome is the comlete set of genetic information for any organism (including us). Genomes ofsimple bacteria are far smaller than ours (and virus genomes are even smaller than that). However, some plants have a genome at least 50 times larger than ours!