Chromosome 16 (human)
Encyclopedia
Chromosome
A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...
s in human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 16 spans about 90 million base pair
Base pair
In molecular biology and genetics, the linking between two nitrogenous bases on opposite complementary DNA or certain types of RNA strands that are connected via hydrogen bonds is called a base pair...
s (the building material of DNA) and represents just under 3 % of the total DNA in cells
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
.
Identifying gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
s on each chromosome is an active area of genetic research. Because researchers use different approaches to predict the number of genes on each chromosome, the estimated number of genes varies. Chromosome 16 probably contains between 850 and 1,200 genes.
In February 2010, a new cause of obesity due to a microdeletion on chromosome 16 was announced. It may explain about 1% of obesity cases. This research was carried out by Professor Froguel, a CNRS researcher, in Lille, and others at Imperial College in London and Vaudois University and was published in Nature on February 4, 2010.
This defect was identified using DNA microarrays and it leads to the suppression of about thirty genes in one region of chromosome 16. Research showed that this microdeletion is relatively common in obese people but lacking in most non-obese people.
Diseases and Disorders
- Trisomy 16Trisomy 16Trisomy 16 is a chromosomal abnormality in which there are three copies of chromosome 16 rather than two. It is the most common chromosomal cause of miscarriage during the first trimester of pregnancy....
- Familial Mediterranean feverFamilial Mediterranean feverFamilial Mediterranean fever is a hereditary inflammatory disorder. FMF is an autoinflammatory disease caused by mutations in MEFV, a gene which encodes a 781–amino acid protein denoted pyrin....
(FMF) - Crohn's diseaseCrohn's diseaseCrohn's disease, also known as regional enteritis, is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms...
- ThalassemiaThalassemiaThalassemia is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease that originated in the Mediterranean region. In thalassemia the genetic defect, which could be either mutation or deletion, results in reduced rate of synthesis or no synthesis of one of the globin chains that make up hemoglobin...