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The Updated Concept of Genome and Its Implications in Biotechnological Research and Molecular Diagnostics

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Abstract

We propose a short definition of GENOME: The full complement of genetic materials possessed by an intracellular parasite, a cell, or an organism. Accordingly, the human genome is the entire complement of inherited genetic materials possessed by an individual person, or possessed by a cell in an individual person. For higher species, the genomic makeup includes DNA in the nucleus and in the organelles regardless of the number of chromosomes and the homoplasmic or heteroplasmic status of the mitochondrial or chloroplastic DNA. Practically, GENOME can be referred to at the molecular, cellular, individual, and species levels, which has various implications in biotechnological research and molecular diagnostics.

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Acknowledgments

The first version of this article was finished in the City of Hope National Medical Center where Dr. Steve S. Sommer’s encouragement and suggestions to the writing group of this manuscript is greatly appreciated. This article is partially supported by a combined grant from the Hunan Provincial grant (04A048) and Chinese Education Ministry (205106), and a Chinese National 863 Major grant (2007AA02Z4A7).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Medicine Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Suzhou University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215004, China

    Li Xiao & Kai Li

  2. Biotecan Center of Molecular Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Li Xiao, Chengli Chen & Kai Li

  3. SNP Institute, Nanhua University, Hengyang, Hunan, China

    Li Xiao & Cuilan Zhou

  4. Department of Pathology, City of Hope National Medical Center, City of Hope, Duarte, CA, 91010, USA

    Juan-Sebastian Saldivar

  5. Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, San Diego, CA, USA

    Jia Zhang

  6. Institute of Pharmacology of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

    Pierre Sirois

Authors
  1. Li Xiao
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  2. Juan-Sebastian Saldivar
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  3. Cuilan Zhou
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  4. Chengli Chen
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  5. Jia Zhang
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  6. Pierre Sirois
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  7. Kai Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kai Li.

Additional information

Li Xiao and Juan-Sebastian Saldivar contributed equally to this article.

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Xiao, L., Saldivar, JS., Zhou, C. et al. The Updated Concept of Genome and Its Implications in Biotechnological Research and Molecular Diagnostics. Mol Biotechnol 41, 152–156 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-008-9105-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12033-008-9105-0

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