DNA and Evolution

DNA contains the genetic information that allows all modern living things to function, grow and
reproduce. However, it is unclear how long in the 4-billion-year history of life DNA has performed this
function, as it has been proposed that the earliest forms of life may have used RNA as their genetic
material. RNA may have acted as the central part of early cell metabolism as it can both transmit genetic
information and carry out catalysis as part of ribozymes. This ancient RNA world where nucleic acid
would have been used for both catalysis and genetics may have influenced the evolution of the current
genetic code based on four nucleotide bases. This would occur since the number of different bases in such
an organism is a trade-off between a small number of bases increasing replication accuracy and a large
number of bases increasing the catalytic efficiency of ribozymes.

Unfortunately, there is no direct evidence of ancient genetic systems, as recovery of DNA from most
fossils is impossible. This is because DNA will survive in the environment for less than one million years
and slowly degrades into short fragments in solution. Claims for older DNA have been made, most
notably a report of the isolation of a viable bacterium from a salt crystal 250 million years old, but these
claims are controversial.

The following table gives the total number of chromosomes (including sex chromosomes) in a cell
nucleus. For example, human cells are diploid and have 22 different types of autosome, each
present as two copies, and two sex chromosomes. This gives 46 chromosomes in total. Other
organisms have more than two copies of their chromosomes, such as bread wheat, which is
hexaploid and has six copies of seven different chromosomes – 42 chromosomes in total.
Chromosome numbers in some Chromosome numbers (2n) in some animals
plants Species # Species #
Plant Species # Common fruit fly 8 Guinea Pig 64
Arabidopsis thaliana Chinese hamster (Cricetulus
10 22 Garden snail 54
(diploid) griseus)
Rye (diploid) 14 Earthworm Octodrilus
36 Tibetan fox 36
Maize (diploid) 20 complanatus
Einkorn wheat (diploid) 14 Domestic cat 38 Domestic pig 38
Durum wheat Laboratory
28 Laboratory mouse 40 42
(tetraploid) rat
Bread wheat Rabbit (Oryctolagus Syrian
42 44 44
(hexaploid)[ cuniculus) hamster
Potato (tetraploid) 48 Hares 48 Human 46
Cultivated tobacco Domestic
48 Gorillas, Chimpanzees 48 54
(diploid) sheep
Adder's Tongue Fern approx Elephants 56 Cow 60
(diploid) 1,400 Donkey 62 Horse 64
13
Dog 78 Kingfisher
2
100-
Goldfish Silkworm 56
104

Human chromosomes
Human cells have 23 pairs of large linear nuclear chromosomes, giving a total of 46 per cell. In addition
to these, human cells have many hundreds of copies of the mitochondrial genome. Sequencing of the
human genome has provided a great deal of information about each of the chromosomes. Below is a table
compiling statistics for the chromosomes, based on the Sanger Institute's human genome information in
the Vertebrate Genome Annotation (VEGA) database. Number of genes is an estimate as it is in part
based on gene predictions. Total chromosome length is an estimate as well, based on the estimated size of
unsequenced heterochromatin regions.