• Question: How many genes do we have

    Asked by Lego john wick to Oliver on 10 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Oliver

      Oliver answered on 10 Nov 2018:

      Thanks for the question!

      It was thought that the Human Genome Project – which started the largest sequencing of DNA in humans in the 1990’s – was going to find that humans had around 100,000 genes (or more). This was assumed because humans are so complex organisms then we must have this number of genes. However, in the end, it was discovered that we only have about 20,000 genes.

      To put that in perspective, the tiny crustacean the water flea Daphnia has over 30,000! Quantity isn’t everything it seems!

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