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, 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

Derived Forms

• genomic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• genomes
  plural

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

See Examples For:

genome genomes

Department of Energy jointly announced that they had completed the sequencing of the human genome, which could ultimately unlock the mysteries of human health.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

In contrast, the DNA breaks in neurons were concentrated mainly in regions of the genome that are not actively involved in critical gene functions.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 21, 2026

Instead of repairing genetic material, too much EXO1 can break down DNA and destabilize the genome, a key feature of cancer.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 20, 2026

According to the analysis, some contributors to the strawberry genome may have been extinct or remain unsampled, underscoring the complexity of polyploid genome evolution.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

The genome project, in turn, inspires attempts to understand human variation and “normal” behavior in terms of genes.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

These so-called polyploid genomes contain multiple sets of chromosomes inherited from different ancestral species.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

When applied to the cultivated octoploid strawberry, the technique revealed a step-by-step evolutionary history shaped by multiple rounds of allopolyploidization, providing new insight into how complex plant genomes form and diversify over millions of years.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

The team developed a bioinformatic framework capable of reconstructing the evolutionary history of complex polyploid genomes.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

Many of the world's most important crops have unusually complex genomes created through repeated rounds of whole-genome duplication and hybridization.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

I doubt that I am overstating the case here: our capacity to understand and manipulate human genomes alters our conception of what it means to be “human.”

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee