Biology is a Burrito - by Niko McCarty - Asimov Press
asimov.press · 1,833 words · saved by 2 readers
Cells are so dense, it’s a wonder they work at all.
You’re reading Codon, a newsletter about biology, technology & the future. Thank you for being here. ❤️ A bacterium’s genome, pulled into a straight thread, is nearly 1,000 times longer than the cell from which it came. If you placed one E. coli into a plastic, gallon carton and waited a few hours, the genomes of its descendants, placed end-to-end, would reach to the moon and back.1 One rarely pauses to ponder how so much DNA — let alone sugar, proteins, and everything else — can fit inside such a small vessel. Biochemistry textbooks depict cells as spacious places, where molecules float…
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