50 Trillion Trillion Trillion DNA on Earth: Overview of Discovery
50 Trillion Trillion Trillion DNA on Earth: Overview of Discovery
Question: Scientists have recently estimated that 50 trillion trillion trillion DNA is contained on the earth. Provide an overview of this scientific discovery.
- For estimating global biodiversity, scientists typically tally total number of species or organisms found across the world
- Scientists have recently estimated that 50 trillion trillion trillion DNA base pairs are contained on earth
- DNA is the smallest unit of information had by the scientists and information has potential for being connected to and interacting with all else
- The planet is a kind of supercomputer in which complete DNA represents the storage capacity of the system and the rate of genetic transcription is namely its computing power
- Composite figure for DNA will help determine the approach to the study of biodiversity
- To estimate the number of DNA base pairs, scientists performed a comprehensive review of numerous microbes, plants, animals and fungi found on earth
- They also included viruses as these agents play a vital role in DNA processing and genes
- Researchers also calculated the total biomass of each group associated with number of living individuals and their size
- Their final calculation involved the number of cells contained in each organism multiplied by amount of DNA contained within each cell
- This gives the value of the DNA contained in a given person, tree, mushroom or bacterium
- Researchers have reported that there are 50 trillion trillion trillion DNA base pairs which are basic building blocks of its double helix structure plus or minus 3.6 x10^37 base pairs.
- Gathered together, the amount of DNA would be 50 billion tonnes in weight and fill close to one billion shipping containers
Facts and Stats
- Team also computed the equivalent of the planet in computing power namely the speed of DNA transcription
- Provided the average rate of genetic transcription for different organismal groups , scientists found biosphere processes of greater than 10^24 subunits of DNA per second
