Questions about the chicken's genome [please help]...?

Question

(1)what is the DNA's size of the chicken?
(2) how many chromosomes does a chicken have?
(3) how many exons and introns does a chicken have?
(4) what's the difference between the chicken's and human's DNA ??

Answer 1

(1) Didn't understand question one.
(2) a chicken has 78 chromosomes in its somatic cells.
(3) Wasn't able to find.
(4)the chicken has about 20,000-23,000 genes in its 1
billion DNA base pairs, compared with the human count of 20,000-25,000 genes in
2.8 billion DNA base pairs. The difference in total amount of DNA reflects a
substantial reduction in DNA repeats and duplications, as well as fewer
pseudogenes, in the chicken genome.


I hope this helps a little.

Answer 2

Scientists found the chicken genome has about the same number of genes as the human genome: 20,000-23,000 versus the human genome's estimated 20,000-25,000 genes. However, those genes are contained in only 1 billion DNA base pairs, a mere third of human DNA's 2.8 billion base pairs. After confirming the chicken genome's size, scientists searched for reasons why chickens have less DNA.

"A part of what's missing is some of the 'junk' DNA — the recognizable repetitive content of the chicken genome is only about 10 percent as compared to about 50 percent for humans," says lead author LaDeana Hillier, senior research scientist at the GSC.

Scientists identified a chicken gene for interleukin 26, an important immune response protein only previously seen in humans. Researchers hope that further study of the chicken's immune system will lead to the development of better ways to control the spread of viruses, such as the bird flu in Asia. These viruses sometimes jump across species and infect humans.

Analysis of the chicken's telomeres, cap-like structures on the ends of chromosomes, revealed that they are more similar to human telomeres than rodent telomeres. Scientists believe telomeres shorten the DNA slightly every time a cell divides, eventually making it impossible for the cell to divide. This inability to renew through cell division is thought to be a primary component of the structural and functional breakdowns produced by aging.

Increased telomere similarity may mean that the chicken, already a valuable tool for study of the earliest stages of life, also will become useful for study of its final stages.

Wilson compares the chicken genome and other genomes to Rosetta Stones scientists are using to better understand the human genome. As life on Earth evolved over time, genes have been created, kept, discarded or deactivated, and reorganized. At the particular point in evolutionary time over which a species first develops, these processes may have changed a gene in ways that allow scientists to use it to get a better fix on the human version of the gene.

"For every human gene, there's a gene in another species that's going to be most helpful in understanding the human version," Wilson explains. "For some human genes, we might be able to learn more by looking at the genome of the mouse; for others, we might have to look at the version of the gene found in the chicken."

Based on their initial look at the chicken genome, scientists have suggested that they may need to alter the proposed starting point for as many as 2,000 human genes.

Their analysis showed that chickens and humans share about 60 percent of their genes, as opposed to the approximately 88 percent shared by humans and rodents.

"The chicken is really in an evolutionary sweet spot," says Wilson. "It's at just the right evolutionary distance from all the other genomes we already have to provide us with a great deal of fresh insight into the human genome."