A kilobase is a measure used in genetics to refer to a block of 1,000 bases, which are the building blocks of genetic information. Genes contain many bases, and the order in which they are arranged determines what the gene codes for. The human genome contains 3 billion bases, while even the smallest genome contains approximately 160,000 base pairs. Genome sequencing requires the genome to be broken down into smaller sections, which can be genetically engineered into another organism to multiply the DNA to an easily readable level.
A kilobase is a numbering measure used in the field of genetics. Since a base is a building block of genetic information and every organism contains many bases, 1,000 bases is a common number to use when discussing how many bases an organism’s genetic library contains. This 1,000-base block is more properly referred to as a kilobase.
Every living organism contains genetic information. This information tells the organism exactly which protein products the organism needs in order to live, grow and multiply. All genetic information together is called the genome of the organism.
Each genome is divided into discrete sections. These sections, called genes, code for a particular product. Each gene contains a number of building blocks, called bases. When the body reads genes to make a particular product, it is the sequence of bases within the gene that it reads.
There are only four bases in the DNA of the genetic material. These are cytosine (C), guanine (G), thymine (T) and adenine (A). It is the order in which the bases are arranged in a gene that determines what that gene codes for. The complexity required to produce all the essential products for human life comes from the length of the genes and the number of bases within them.
Genes each contain a substantial number of bases. The entire human genome, for example, contains 3 billion bases, each paired with another base in a spiral helix structure. The sheer amount of bases in a genome means that geneticists find it easier to refer to genes as length x kilobases, rather than 1,000 times x length.
Even the smallest of genomes, such as the genome of the bacterium Carsonella ruddii, contains approximately 160,000 base pairs. This tiny genome is about 160 kilobases (kb) long. The human genome, on the other hand, is 3 million kilobase pairs long.
Genome sequencing requires the genome to be broken down first. The equipment that does the sequencing can only handle so many bases at once. Geneticists can divide a genome into many sections and refer to them as containing as many kilobase pairs, such as a length of 150 kilobase pairs. This size of genetic material can be genetically engineered into another organism to multiply the DNA to an easily readable level. Even these relatively small pieces of DNA are too long to directly sequence, so geneticists can break up a 150-kb segment into much smaller chunks a few hundred bases in length.
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