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DNA Use
Name: Ana
Status: Student
Grade: 9-12
Location: VA
Country: United States
Date: March 2007
Question:
Which are the cells in our body
expressing the most DNA?
Replies:
This may be a more complicated question than you might think. Our body's DNA
is made up of lots of different regions, some of which code proteins, some
of which code 'control sequences' that regulate how proteins are made, some
of which aren't used at all, and other sections that we aren't sure what
they do. Moreover, some segments of DNA have multiple jobs; they are used
for one purpose in one cell and for another purpose in another cell. All of
these complicated, overlapping roles are part of the reason it's so hard to
unlock DNA's mysteries.
To answer your question best, some clarification might help. In biology, we
do not say DNA is "expressed". Proteins are "expressed", not DNA. Are you
wanting to know which cells use the most DNA (e.g. uses X% of its DNA)? This
is an exceedingly difficult question to answer with certainty. Or are you
asking which cells express the largest number of proteins (or the greatest
amount of protein)? If that's the case, I would point to rapidly growing
cells like cancer cells. Or, you might mean which cells have the most
potential to turn into other cells (e.g. still have access to their entire
set of DNA) -- that's an active area of research, especially with stem
cells.
Burr
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Update: June 2012
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