C-value

C-value is the amount, in picograms, of DNA contained within a haploid nucleus (e.g. a gamete) or one half the amount in a diploid somatic cell of a eukaryotic organism. In some cases (notably among diploid organisms), the terms C-value and genome size are used interchangeably; however, in polyploids the C-value may represent two or more genomes contained within the same nucleus. Greilhuber et al. have suggested some new layers of terminology and associated abbreviations to clarify this issue, but these somewhat complex additions are yet to be used by other authors.

C-value is the amount, in picograms, of DNA contained within a haploid nucleus (e.g. a gamete) or one half the amount in a diploid somatic cell of a eukaryotic organism. In some cases (notably among diploid organisms), the terms C-value and genome size are used interchangeably; however, in polyploids the C-value may represent two or more genomes contained within the same nucleus. Greilhuber et al. have suggested some new layers of terminology and associated abbreviations to clarify this issue, but these somewhat complex additions are yet to be used by other authors. == Origin of the Term - C-value== Many authors have incorrectly assumed that the 'C' in "C-value" refers to "characteristic", "content", or "complement". Even among authors who have attempted to trace the origin of the term, there had been some confusion because Hewson Swift did not define it explicitly when he coined it in 1950. In his original paper, Swift appeared to use the designation "1C value", "2C value", etc., in reference to "classes" of DNA content (e.g., Gregory 2001, 2002 ); however, Swift explained in personal correspondence to Prof. Michael D. Bennett in 1975 that "I am afraid the letter C stood for nothing more glamorous than 'constant', i.e., the amount of DNA that was characteristic of a particular genotype" (quoted in Bennett and Leitch 2005 ). This is in reference to the report in 1948 by Vendrely and Vendrely of a "remarkable constancy in the nuclear DNA content of all the cells in all the individuals within a given animal species" (translated from the original French). Swift's study of this topic related specifically to variation (or lack thereof) among chromosome sets in different cell types within individuals, but his notation evolved into "C-value" in reference to the haploid DNA content of individual species and retains this usage today. ==Calculating C-values== †Source of table: Doležel et al., 2003 The formulas for converting the number of nucleotide pairs (or base pairs) to picograms of DNA and vice versa are: genome size (bp) = (0.978 × 10 9 ) × DNA content (pg) DNA content (pg) = genome size (bp) / (0.978 × 10 9 ) 1 pg = 978 Mbp By using the data in Table 1, relative masses of nucleotide pairs can be calculated as follows: A/T = 615.383 and G/C = 616.3711, bearing in mind that formation of one phosphodiester linkage involves a loss of one H 2 O molecule. Further, phosphates of nucleotides in the DNA chain are acidic, so at physiologic pH the H + ion is dissociated. Provided the ratio of A/T to G/C pairs is 1:1 (the GC-content is 50%), the mean relative mass of one nucleotide pair is 615.8771. The relative molecular mass may be converted to an absolute value by multiplying it by the atomic mass unit (1 u) in picograms. Thus, 615.8771 is multiplied by 1.660539 × 10 −12 pg. Consequently, the mean mass per nucleotide pair would be 1.023 × 10 −9 pg, and 1 pg of DNA would represent 0.978 × 10 9 base pairs (978 Mbp). No species has a GC-content of exactly 50% (equal amounts of A/T and G/C nucleotide bases) as assumed by Doležel et al. However, as a G/C pair is only heavier than an A/T pair by about 1/6 of 1%, the effect of variations in GC content is small. The actual GC content varies between species, between chromosomes, and between isochores (sections of a chromosome with like GC content). Adjusting Doležel's calculation for GC content, the theoretical variation in base pairs per picogram ranges from 977.0317 Mbp/pg for 100% GC content to 978.6005 Mbp/pg for 0% GC content (A/T being lighter, has more Mbp/pg), with a midpoint of 977.8155 Mbp/pg for 50% GC content. ===Human C-values=== The human genome varies in size; however, the current estimate of the nuclear haploid size of the reference human genome is 3,031,042,417 bp for the X gamete and 2,932,228,937 bp for the Y gamete. The X gamete and Y gamete both contain 22 autosomes whose combined lengths comprise the majority of the genome in both gametes. The X gamete contains an X chromosome, while the Y gamete contains a Y chromosome. The larger size of the X chromosome is responsible for the difference in the size of the two gametes. When the gametes are combined, the XX female zygote has a size of 6,062,084,834 bp while the XY male zygote has a size 5,963,271,354 bp. However, the base pairs of the XX female zygote are distributed among 2 homologous groups of 23 heterologous chromosomes each, while the base pairs of the XY male zygote are distributed among 2 homologous groups of 22 heterologous chromosomes each plus 2 heterologous chromosomes. Although each zygote has 46 chromosomes, 23 chromosomes of the XX female zygote are heterologous while 24 chromosomes of the XY male zygote are heterologous. As a result, the C-value for the XX female zygote is 3.099361 while the C-value for the XY male zygote is 3.157877. The human genome's GC content is about 41%. Accounting for the autosomal, X, and Y chromosomes, human haploid GC contents are 40.97460% for X gametes, and 41.01724% for Y gametes. Summarizing these numbers:

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