Chromosome 1 - The Stuff of Life

Geneticist Aoife Mclysaght introduces the Ri advent calendar 2013 - our video journey through the human genome. Each day in December we'll release a new short film focussing on the 23 pairs of human chromosomes and the mitochondrial DNA that make up the building blocks of human life.

Starting with the largest human chromosome - chromosome 1 - Aoife explores how genes are organised and how genetic information is passed from one generation to the next.

[AbhijeetBorkar]

She looks like Prof Brian Cox! Looking forward to this interesting series.

[whatif]

This video has got me excited for all the other videos!

[kanklbot]

This sounds brilliant! Can't wait for tomorrows episode!

[tsm]

Looking forward to all im going to learn throughout the series. Thanks!

[Pablogogo]

Natural History Museum looks great, wonderful that it is open again.

[Missnaughty]

Woohoo I'm excited. I like the presenter's accent

[timlandscheidt]

I was fascinated by the video until I saw the first name of the presenter.  Four vowels and one consonant?  How can the miracle of life keep up with that? :-)

[marscrumbs]

While we know how within the double helix how pairs of bases match up, how is it that sister chromosome know one another? It isn’t AT GC hydrogen bonds between two different homologous strains.

[adamtaylor]

This video appeared to sepperate homologous pairs, instead of sister chromatids, which is not correct when illustrating mitosis.

[hendrikhendrikson]

So cute, and so interesting.
Can't wait for more !

[guitarttimman]

I think what was confused about me is that I wanted to destroy the world. But, that's incorrect.
I only wanted to eliminate the torment part for us.

[BobMcLaughlin]

I have the same scar on my finger that she has at 2:13!

[Tomswift]

The music is so good, does anybody know what the song is? (The first one)

[StephenMortimer]

what a sweetie! (the kind mothers-in-law dream of)

[paulflute]

So do you not regard viruses as 'alive' then..?

[silvergirl]

My son is missing most of his first chromosome both x and y

[JohnStephenWeck]

Greetings all. Life is not about replication, so DNA or chromosomes are in no way the basis of life.

Life means cyclic processors exist in the system. Cyclic processors are machines that take lots of power to keep the cycle going, so you need a sizable power supply. Processors have a lifespan, which is how long the processor is going. To be alive, all biological or technological systems must have at least one cyclic processor operating. Suspension means the processor has temporarily stopped. Death is defined as a cyclic processor that can’t be restarted. It doesn’t matter what the processor is made of, what its contained function is, or whether it’s replicating. Conceptually, you can think of a cyclic processor as a software loop or process.

Let’s use an air vortex example. Air can blow down the street as wind, from high to low potential – this is not life. If a dust devil forms and moves down the street you have a simple lifeform (the same with a tornado). The difference is that a processor has formed. It takes energy, it keeps on going, it has a lifespan, and it repeats the same basic process again and again. You can kill it by either removing its power supply, or interfering with its processor structure. Simple life forms of all types are always coming into and out of existence. Complex biological life has a cyclic processor based factory to allow them replicate, and evolve over time.

For humans, cyclic processors define life and death – things like lungs, circulatory systems, and brains, need to be “kept going”. In other words – air processors, fluid processors, and information processors need to be kept cycling. This is a large part of what physicians are measuring with their equipment. Robots (artificial animals) have their own set of processors you can start and stop, so life and death applies to them as well.

All factories (including ribosomes and universal assemblers) are alive because they contain (or are) cyclic processors, not because they can manufacture or replicate something. Viruses are not alive because they have no processors – they use a living factory in a cell to copy themselves. Cells are alive because they are processor heaven.

Thanks for listening.

[MilMike]

Awesome, is it true that a potato had more chromosomes than a human?

[dphotographyj]

Why don't you tell us what our dna is mixed We certainly are not just an evolved species... We are a separate species

[onlyCreativity]

every living thing has dna? noht really.