19 Chromosome
represents more than 2% of the total DNA in cells. People normally have
two copies of this chromosome as all other non-sex chromosomes. Chromosome
nineteen spans about 64 million base pairs. Base Pairs are two molecules
(nucleotides) on opposite DNA strands that are connected. Adenine (A) forms a
base pair with thymine (T), as does guanine (G) with cytosine (C) in DNA. Base pairs is how DNA is measured.
There are about 1,695 genes in this chromosome.
The finished sequence
of human chromosome 19, the most gene dense of all human chromosomes, has been
released by JGI and its collaborators. With an accuracy calculated at better
than 99.99%, the finished code reveals 55.8 million
base pairs and 1461
protein-coding genes, including genes related to
such recalcitrant diseases as familial hypercholesterolemia and
insulin-resistant diabetes.