Genetics Pop Quiz #2: Where is your genome located?
a. In your blood.
b. In your brain.
c. In your gonads; ovaries for women, testicles for men.
d. In your hair.
e. All of the above and then some. In almost every cell of your body.
Answer: e. In every cell of your body.
Your complete genome is located in the nucleus of almost every cell in your body. There is also mitochondrial DNA specific to mitochondria, the energy producing organelles in cells but they have specialized functions. Sperm and eggs contain only half of your total DNA so that when one sperm joins with one egg to form an embryo, together they form the complete complement to make a human being.
Most of our cells have the genetic code with the information needed to make an entire human being. However, each part of the body has only the genes for making that part turned on. The other irrelevant genes are turned off. For example, only genes responsible for making skin are turned on in skin cells.
If you didn’t get the answer right, don’t worry. When the Pennsylvania legislature was debating a bill to ban cloning, one-third of lawmakers said the genome lies in the brain, one-third said in the gonads, and one-third sort of got it right. (As The Future Catches You, by Juan Enriquez)
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