{
  "name": "DNA in a whole human body: cell counts, totals and the Earth–Sun distance",
  "desc": "Human and red blood cell counts, nucleated cells, DNA per cell, the whole-body total in metres and astronomical units, the published total, the 400 au statement, mitochondrial DNA and the binucleated share of liver cells.",
  "lic": "CC BY 4.0",
  "lic_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "by": "Ants, Cells & Atoms",
  "url": "https://antscellsandatoms.com/scale/dna-length/",
  "from": [
    "media/human-cell-counts.csv (shared file)",
    "Sender et al. 2016 full text (saved copy)",
    "Moras et al. 2017, Piovesan et al. 2019, Bajić 2024, Darmasaputra et al. 2024 and Paulson et al. 2021 full texts (saved copies, 2026-10-25)",
    "SI Brochure, 9th edition, Table 8 (saved excerpt, 2026-10-25)",
    "media/dna-length-inputs.csv"
  ],
  "how": "Compiled by Ants, Cells & Atoms from the data listed",
  "data_by": [
    "Sender R, Fuchs S, Milo R 2016, PLoS Biology 14(8):e1002533, CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533 (3.0e13 human cells, 84% red blood cells, about 0.3e13 nucleated; shared human-cell-counts.csv; retrieved 2026-10-25)",
    "Moras M, Lefevre SD, Ostuni MA 2017, Frontiers in Physiology 8:1076, CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.01076 (mature red cells lose the nucleus and mitochondria; retrieved 2026-10-25)",
    "Piovesan A et al. 2019, BMC Research Notes 12:106, CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-019-4137-z (diploid lengths 205.00 cm male and 208.23 cm female; whole-body 6.20e12 m; mitochondrial DNA 0.09–3.62 cm per cell; retrieved 2026-10-25)",
    "BIPM, The International System of Units (SI Brochure), 9th edition, Table 8, CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.59161/AUEZ1291 (1 au = 149,597,870,700 m; retrieved 2026-10-25)",
    "Bajić D 2024, Entropy 26(5):430, CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.3390/e26050430 (400 Earth–Sun distances; retrieved 2026-10-25)",
    "Darmasaputra GS et al. 2024, Journal of Cell Biology 223(8):e202403020, CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202403020 (human liver cells 2N to 8N, up to 20% binucleated; retrieved 2026-10-25)",
    "Paulson JR, Hudson DF, Cisneros-Soberanis F, Earnshaw WC 2021, Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology 117:7–29, CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2021.03.014 (largest human mitotic chromosome 8–10 µm, with one DNA molecule 8.5 cm long in each of its two sister chromatids; nucleus about 10 µm; chain 5–24 nm; retrieved 2026-10-25)",
    "Nurk S et al. 2022, Science 376(6588):44–53, CC BY 4.0, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj6987 (3,054,815,472 base pairs in the T2T-CHM13 set; 16,569 bp mitochondrial genome; retrieved 2026-10-25)",
    "totals and shares computed 2026-10-25 for this page"
  ]
}