The genome is the totality of genetic information of a cell, organism or organelle. This includes all genes as well as non-coding DNA sequences (e.g. introns, promoters, short tandem repeats, etc.)
- The whole of the genetic information of an organism's genetic information is contained in DNA, therefore a living organism’s genome is the entire base sequence of each of its DNA molecules.
- In humans, the genome consists of
- 46 chromosomes plus mitochondrial DNA
- ~3 billion base pairs
- ~21,000 genes
- In plants, the genome also consists of chloroplast DNA on top of their chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA
- Genome of the prokaryotes is much smaller and has the DNA in the circular chromosomes, plus any plasmids that are present.
- Prokaryotes have a circular chromosome and plasmids in their genome