Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

2011 Edition
| Editors: Muriel Gargaud, Ricardo Amils, José Cernicharo Quintanilla, Henderson James (Jim) CleavesII, William M. Irvine, Daniele L. Pinti, Michel Viso

Genome

Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_634
How to cite

Keywords

Chromosome, DNA, gene, genetic information, RNA, sequencing project

Definition

The genome is the total amount of the genetic information of a  species. It can also be defined as the basic haploid chromosome set of a species. The term “genome” has also been used to refer to the full hereditary information of an organism. Nevertheless, the term  “genotype” is preferred for individual organisms, since the “genome” of a given species is in practice an average or consensus of the genetic information of a number of individuals belonging to that species. Thus, the genome of one species does not capture the genetic polymorphisms within it.

Overview

All cellular genomes are composed of double stranded (ds)  DNA, while  viruses can have DNA or  RNA genomes both as single stranded (ss) or ds molecules. In turn, all  viroidsshow ssRNA genomes. Genomes can have linear or circular topologies, and they are composed of either a single DNA or RNA molecule or a set of different ones, each of...

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References and Further Reading

  1. Collins F (2010) Has the revolution arrived? Nature 464:674–675ADSCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Fiers W, Contreras R, Duerinck F, Haegeman G, Iserentant D, Merregaert J, Min Jou W, Molemans F, Raeymaekers A, Van den Berghe A, Volckaert G, Ysebaert M (1976) Complete nucleotide sequence of bacteriophage MS2 RNA: primary and secondary structure of the replicase gene. Nature 260:500–507ADSCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Gibson G, Muse SV (2009) A primer of genome science. Sinauer Associates, SunderlandGoogle Scholar
  4. Lander E, Linton L, Birren B et al (International Human Gene Sequencing Consortium) (2001) Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome. Nature 409:860–921ADSCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Lewin B (2008) Genes IX. Jones and Bartlett, BostonGoogle Scholar
  6. Nielsen CB, Cantor M, Dubchak I, Gorton D, Wang T (2010) Visualizing genomes: techniques and challenges. Nat Meth 7:S1–S11CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Sanger F, Air GM, Barrell BG, Brown NL, Coulson AR, Fiddes CA, Hutchison CA, Slocombe PM, Smith M (1977) Nucleotide sequence of bacteriophage phi X174 DNA. Nature 265:687–695ADSCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Snustad DP, Simmons MJ (2010) Principles of genetics, 5th edn. Wiley, New JerseyGoogle Scholar
  9. Venter JC, Adams M, Myers E et al (2001) The sequence of the human genome. Science 291:1304–1351ADSCrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Laboratory of Molecular Evolution, Centro de Astrobiología (INTACSIC)Instituto Nacional de Técnica AeroespacialTorrejon de ArdozSpain