genome

American  

[jee-nohm] / ˈdʒi noʊm /

Also genom

noun

Genetics.

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

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genome British  

/ ˈdʒiːnəʊm, dʒɪˈnɒmɪk /

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

• genomic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of genome

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

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

In deep mutational scanning, scientists create many mutations in a gene or region of the genome and then measure how those changes affect the organism.

From Science Daily • May 29, 2026

Whole genome duplication is commonly found in cancer cells, and some cancer therapies can unintentionally trigger it as well.

From Science Daily • May 25, 2026

Using genome editing and cancer cell models, the researchers found that cancer cells became much more sensitive to ferroptosis when vitamin B2 was limited.

From Science Daily • May 15, 2026

Instead of relying on older DNA microarray methods, the team used whole-genome sequencing, which reads nearly all three billion DNA base pairs in a person's genome.

From Science Daily • May 14, 2026

Inside every nucleus within each cell in your body, there’s an identical copy of your entire genome.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot