genome
Americannoun
noun
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the full complement of genetic material within an organism
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all the genes comprising a haploid set of chromosomes
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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.
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Compare proteome
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing genome
This Week In Words: March 29–April 4, 2020
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Genetics - Middle School
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Life Science: Genetics and Evolution
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
That study found that specific changes in the naked mole rat protein improved genome stability and delayed signs of aging in experimental models.
From Science Daily • May 10, 2026
The team's genome and transcriptome analysis also identified suppressor tRNA genes that match the reassigned codons, supporting the conclusion that the organism truly reads these former stop signals as amino acids.
From Science Daily • May 7, 2026
Sequencing of mitochondrial genomes from both specimens showed they were nearly identical to a known reference genome for this species.
From Science Daily • Apr. 27, 2026
The human genome contains about between twenty-one and twenty-three thousand genes that provide the master instructions to build, repair, and maintain humans.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
