Tuesday, July 23, 2024

The Next 500 Years #4

Chromatin is a hybrid structure of DNA and protein that manages the complex problem of packaging 3 billion bases of DNA into a small bundle in the cell that is only a few micrometers in size. This is no small feat. The length of DNA from one cell would measure two meters in length if you stretched it out in front of you. This long DNA not only (obviously) fits inside each cell, but further, it somehow simultaneously has enough room for molecules to access and read it when necessary. This is the equivalent of taking a string that is then length of the world's tallest building (the Burj Khalifa, at 828 meters) and compacting it so that it could fit in the palm of your hand.

pg. 82


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