Here at Front Line Genomics, we thought we would spread some Christmas cheer with the 12 days of Christmas but with a genomics twist!
On the first day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
The largest human chromosome.
Chromosome one is the largest human chromosome, representing about 8% of the total DNA in human cells.
On the second day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
As we all know, humans have two sex chromosomes – X and Y. The Y chromosomes is one-third the size of the X chromosome and contains about 55 genes, while the X chromosome has about 900.
On the third day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
The human genome contains 3.2 billion base pairs. Stretched out, your DNA could reach the sun and back 61 times.
On the fourth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Four bases – A, C, T, G,
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
The four nucleobases of DNA – adenine (A), cytosine (C), thymine (T) and guanine (G) – form the basis of life. Developments in Nanopore sequencing promise to revolutionise sequencing specificity by passing the DNA strand through a membrane nanopore, one base at a time.
On the fifth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Five acrocentric chromosomes,
Four bases – A, C, T, G,
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
According to the positions of centromeres, chromosomes can be categorised in a telocentric (terminal end), acrocentric (p arm hard to observe but present), submetacentric (L-shaped) and metacentric (middle) manner. The human chromosomes 13, 14, 15, 21, and 22 are acrocentric. Human chromosomes 1, 3, 16, 19, and 20 are metacentric.
On the sixth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Six years of the Festival of Genomics,
Five acrocentric chromosomes,
Four bases – A, C, T, G,
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
Front Line Genomics will be hosting their sixth annual Festival of Genomics & Biodata with a range of amazing talks and content to keep you merry even in January!
On the seventh day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Seven Mendel traits,
Six years of the Festival of Genomics,
Five acrocentric chromosomes,
Four bases – A, C, T, G,
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
Gregor Mendel is considered the founding-father of modern genetics. During his research, Mendel observed seven different characteristics in pea plants, each with two forms. These included pea shape (round or wrinkled), pea colour (green or yellow), pod shape (constricted or inflated), pod colour (green or yellow), flower colour (purple or white), plant size (tall or dwarf) and position of flowers (axial or terminal). These principles gave rise to Mendelian inheritance.
On the eighth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Eight histone proteins,
Seven Mendel traits,
Six years of the Festival of Genomics,
Five acrocentric chromosomes,
Four bases – A, C, T, G,
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
A histone octamer is the eight-protein complex found at the centre of a nucleosome core particle. It consists of two copies of each of the four core histone proteins – H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. Histones form the major components of chromatin.
On the ninth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Nine CRISPR associated protein,
Eight histone proteins,
Seven Mendel traits,
Six years of the Festival of Genomics,
Five acrocentric chromosomes,
Four bases – A, C, T, G,
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
Cas9 is a 160 kilodalton protein which plays a key role in the immunological defence of certain bacteria against DNA viruses and plasmids. This protein has been harnessed by researchers for gene editing technology and won Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year.
On the tenth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Ten hallmarks of cancer,
Nine CRISPR associated protein,
Eight histone proteins,
Seven Mendel traits,
Six years of the Festival of Genomics,
Five acrocentric chromosomes,
Four bases – A, C, T, G
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
Hanahan and Weinberg released the next generation of cancer hallmarks in 2011. These include sustaining proliferative signalling, evading growth suppressors, avoiding immune destruction, tumour-promoting inflammation, genome instability and mutation, deregulating cellular energetics, activating invasion and metastasis, enabling replicative immortality, inducing angiogenesis and resisting cell death.
On the eleventh day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Eleven years since the first draft of the HGP was released,
Ten hallmarks of cancer,
Nine CRISPR associated protein,
Eight histone proteins,
Seven Mendel traits,
Six years of the Festival of Genomics,
Five acrocentric chromosomes,
Four bases – A, C, T, G,
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
The first draft of the human genome was released in 2001 – 11 years since the project first began. The project costed over $3 billion and catalysed a new era of genomics.
On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Twelve months of amazing and innovative research,
Eleven years since the first draft of the HGP was released,
Ten hallmarks of cancer,
Nine CRISPR associated protein,
Eight histone proteins,
Seven Mendel traits,
Six years of the Festival of Genomics,
Five acrocentric chromosomes,
Four bases – A, C, T, G,
Three billion base pairs of DNA,
Two sex chromosomes,
And the largest human chromosome.
This year has been tough to say the least, but out of it has emerged unprecedented levels of collaboration and innovation that has provided some light at the end of the tunnel. From the first telomere-to-telomere human chromosome assembly to the first mRNA covid-19 vaccine being approved for use, the scientific community has not stopped! While we hope that next year we can all meet again in-person at conferences and events, above all we hope that this sense of community persists so we can work together to improve patient lives.
Image credit: Background vector created by s.salvador – www.freepik.com
