How much does the total DNA in your body weigh? · 2:18am Oct 5th, 2013
Well, that is really a tricky question. First, we'd have to stipulate some 'rules' (more like, ideal conditions) for our little experiment to go nicely:
1) Your body is now completely sterile. That's right, no more bacteria colonizing your skin, gastrointestinal tract and your upper airways. Since your body has 10 times more bacteria than it has cells, you'd weigh about 1-3% less than you do now. [1]
2) All cells in your body are now diploid. Yeah, even the germinative cells in your testicles/ovaries.
3) All cells in your body are permanently on the G1 phase of mitosis. This means that there is no duplicate of genetic material anywhere in your body; all your cells contain only 2 pairs of each chromosome and that's it!
4) All cells in your body are of the same size (10 microns, to be precise) and weigh the same (10⁻¹²kg).
5) You now have exactly 10 trillion (10¹⁴) cells in your body. Meaning you weigh 100kg.
7) All the cells in your body contain the same genetical information. There are no mutations anywhere and you are forbidden from being a chimera (individual born through the fusion of two separately-fecundated zygotes) or have mosaicism (individual born through the fission of a single zygote (or some other cell early in development) into two distinct cell populations).
8) Introns will be counted in!
9) No mDNA! In fact, no extra-nuclear DNA. Ever!
10) Histones are for babies and otorhinolaryngologists.
With this information, we can start collecting some data! Doležel et al.[2] graciously awarded me with a table, saving me the trouble of calculating the molecular weight of nucleotides:
2′-deoxyadenosine 5′-monophosphate - C10H14N5O6P - 331.2213u
2′-deoxythymidine 5′-monophosphate - C10H15N2O8P - 322.2079u
2′-deoxyguanosine 5′-monophosphate - C10H14N5O7P - 347.2207u
2′-deoxycytidine 5′-monophosphate - C9H14N3O7P - 307.1966u
From this, we can gather that AT pairings weigh 615.383u and CG pairings weigh 616.3711u, considering that for every phosphodiester linkage, you lose one water molecule (not to mention that due to the acidic character of the molecule and that the physiological pH is 7.35 +/- 0.05, the H+ ion will be dissociated). Provided that the AT to CG pairing ratio is that of roughly 1:1, we'd have a relative weight of 615.8771u.
Now, provided that the atomic mass is one twelfth of the mass of a C-12 atom, we get that 1u = 1.660539 × 10²⁷ kg, meaning that the weight of one nucleotide pair is 1.023× 10⁻⁹pg. Now, we can branch to two different results here:
Male Individuals (XY)
Since the Y chromosome is considerably smaller than the X chromosome, the end results will differ. Male diploid genomes have 6.294 × 10⁹ pairs of bases[3], meaning that a single cell will weigh 6.436pg in genetic material alone. Since you have 10¹⁴ cells in your body, this means that you'd weigh 6.436 × 10¹⁴pg in genetic material alone, which can be translated to 6.436 × 10⁻¹kg.
Or, if you prefer:
0.06436kg
Female Individuals (XX)
Since the X chromosome is considerably larger than the Y chromosome, the end results will differ. Female diploid genomes have 6.406 × 10⁹ pairs of bases[3], meaning that a single cell will weigh 6.550pg in genetic material alone. Since you have 10¹⁴ cells in your body, this means that you'd weigh 6.550 × 10¹⁴pg in genetic material alone, which can be translated to 6.550 × 10⁻¹kg.
Or, if you prefer:
0.06550kg
So, there you have it. Roughly 65 grams of your total body weight (under specific conditions). That is more than what I was expecting, really, considering that 75% +/- 5% of the total weight is composed of water alone. If you're looking for RNA count then you can go fuck yourself. I'm not going to extrapolate the calculation by ignoring pre-RNAm, pro-pre-RNAm, RNAm and the fabulously-shapen RNAt.
References:
[1] - MacDougall, Raymond (13 June 2012). "NIH Human Microbiome Project defines normal bacterial makeup of the body". NIH. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
[2] - Doležel J, Bartoš J,Voglmayr H, Greilhuber J (2003). "Letter to the editor: Nuclear DNA Content and Genome Size of Trout and Human". Cytometry 51A (2): 127–128. doi:10.1002/cyto.a.10013. PMID 12541287.
[3] - Lander, ES; Linton, LM; Birren, B; Nusbaum, C; Zody, MC; Baldwin, J; Devon, K; Dewar, K et al. (2001). "International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium. Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome". Nature 409 (6822): 860–921. doi:10.1038/35057062. PMID 11237011
Dense Nucleic Add-ons I see...
Luce, how have you been sir?
Well, that's certainly interesting.
So, provided you're a thing that doesn't exist, your DNA weighs roughly 1/600th of a kilo. Assuming you are a thing that exists, it might weigh anything upwards of a 1/100th of a kilo. Maybe. Assuming my guesstimation is correct.
AssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssumingAssuming
1395343 Apart from the buttload of tests that constantly assault me and prevent me from doing what I damn well please, I'm fine, thanks for asking, Cosmic! Tomorrow, for example, I have one test that covers two subjects: Neurology (fuck my life) and Psychiatry (yay). How 'bout you, Mr?
1395391 How are things going, Super? Super, I hope, if you pardon the pun.
(I know you knew it was coming!)
1398699 I'm confused, Muzz. What doesn't/does exist? But anyway, how you doin'?
1402363 No joke, you're the first person I've seen ever use that pun. It's weird no one else has seems to have thought of it yet.
Oh, and things are going decently, how are things going for you, Luce of the Fudu?
1402363
In three words?
1) AGH
2) Blargalsnarf.
3) Swell.
Ahh Blargalsnarf... why aren't you a word?
1402363
I'm doing pretty swish, actually. I'm insinuating your laundry list of needs that a test subject needs to have their DNA weight 0.06436kg is a list that cannot apply to anything that exists currently. At least I believe that kind of thing cannot exist. Pseudo science is best.
1402423 Well, just did very, very, very well on my psychiatry/neurology test. Besides that, I'm already studying for a test that is 2 weeks (and some days) from now. Apart from that, I'm laughing at just how much the overall quality of stories here in FiMFiction has decreased. Not only some have old-as-fuck and not-funny-at-all plots, but they try to be "OMG SUUU RANDOM!!!11" so very hard that it hurts. Physically. Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for "having fun" when you write, but this... clusterfuck just seems like tryhard tryharding to me.
1402484 How about in sentences, then?
1403463 Ah, yes. It is true. I had to make that long list of rules in order to try to get an accurate (debatable) measure. Shit goes down at a molecular level in our body, and no matter how thin is your comb, we can't account for everything [yet, hopefully]. I wouldn't say pseudo science, however, since it follows scientific criteria (unlike those retards who thought phrenology was a thing back in the day; that's right Combe, you're a fucking idiot). But I will admit that this is a big extrapolation. I am now thinking about trying to get an odds ratio and try to calculate just by how much I missed the mark. I probably will never be able to do it, but the end result shouldn't differ much from the one I got to (+/- 20g).
1411396 Eh, I've kinda stopped writing really. Don't actually have the time, too busy trying to figure out what to do with myself. Glad to see you seem to have it figured out, or at least, more figured out than most people I know.
One could blame the site/fandom simply gathering more patrons over time for the decrease in quality, but I don't really think I'm in quite the correct position to determine that. I am not smart enough, nor do I have the writing "skillets".
1413228 I can't fault you there. Though I always wanted to be a medical doctor (yep, since as long as I can remember), I know that the subject of "what you wanna be" is very hard for some people to grasp. Society makes it no better, since it practically screams "choose well or your whole life will suffer for it". That is only partly true, but a gross exaggeration. A career choice, while not a decision to be taken lightly, is something that doesn't necessarily marks the "point of no return" in your life. It all depends on which opportunities you have/had and how you yourself deal with them. I gotta admit, I am pretty laid back when it comes to life in general. Few and far in-between are the things that make me sad (though I get butthurt a lot, I admit).
And this comes from the guy who lives in Brazil, so that's definitely saying something.
If I may give you advice, Super, take your time to think about what you want to be. Not a "where do you see yourself in 20 years", because that is bullshit. Just imagine yourself doing something which you find both entertaining and interesting, and getting paid to do it. If you're torn between two or more alternatives, try scheduling a visit to the campus (if, for instance, you'd like a job that requires a degree) and watching one or two classes of that particular subject. Just so see what they have to offer and if you really want to take up on said offer.
One word of advice, though: Try to speed up the process. I know this is counter-productive, but unfortunately, society nowadays wants young people in the market (sans on some areas).
To be truth, when regarding to writing things, I'm not smart at all, nor do I have the writing "skillets" as you put it. But I do know how to smell attention seeking. It may be a bit harsh of me; not to mention slightly disrespectful, but it's not like I'm going to their stories telling them that, so I think I'm on the clear.