genome

American  

[jee-nohm] / ˈdʒi noʊm /

Also genom

noun

Genetics.

• genomes
  plural

1. a full set of chromosomes; all the inheritable traits of an organism.

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genome British  

/ ˈdʒiːnəʊm /

noun

1. the full complement of genetic material within an organism

2. all the genes comprising a haploid set of chromosomes

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genome Scientific  

/ jē′nōm /

1. The total amount of genetic information in the chromosomes of an organism, including its genes and DNA sequences. The genome of eukaryotes is made up of a single, haploid set of chromosomes that is contained in the nucleus of every cell and exists in two copies in all cells except reproductive and red blood cells. The human genome is made up of about 20,000 to 25,000 genes.

2. Compare proteome

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genome Cultural  

1. The sum of all information contained in the DNA for any living thing. The sequence of all the nucleotides in all the chromosomes of an organism.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• genomic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• genomes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of genome

First recorded in 1925–30; from German Genom, from Gen gene + (Chromos)om chromosome

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Explanation

The human genome is the map of your DNA, the double helix that contains all your genes. Your genome is all the genetic material contained in your 23 pairs of chromosomes, a total of more than 20,000 genes. Every organism has its own unique genome. "The Human Genome Project," completed in 2003, was an international effort to identify all the genes in human DNA and to determine the sequences of the 3 billion (yes, billion) base pairs — the smaller units that make up DNA. It took 13 years. Genome research has helped diagnose disease and find genetic markers for certain diseases.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

genome genomes

The discovery challenges a traditional view of genome architecture as something that primarily changes in response to evolution.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

In octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish, ancient rearrangements of the genome may have helped establish new regulatory networks that contributed to the development of their exceptionally sophisticated nervous systems.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

They then compared the arrangement of DNA with patterns of gene activity to understand how changes in genome structure might influence biological complexity.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

But when they assembled and examined the organism's genome, they noticed something unexpected.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

Why would any sane person lower his or her standard of living just to multiply the number of copies of the Homo sapiens genome?

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

To investigate how jumping genes influenced ant evolution, the international research team examined and compared the genomes of 163 ant species.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026

The work was carried out through the Bat1K consortium, a global effort dedicated to sequencing the genomes of all living bat species and co-founded by UCD Professor Emma Teeling.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

The study, published in Nature, examined 103 bat genomes, including 42 newly generated chromosome-level assemblies, covering all 21 recognized bat families.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

To investigate, the researchers analyzed the genomes of three Clusia species with different CAM phenotypes: Clusia rosea, Clusia minor, and Clusia major.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

Our genomes are catalogues of instructions from all kinds of sources in nature, filed for all kinds of contingencies.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

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