4 Chromosome
represents over 6% of DNA in cells. People normally have two copies of
this chromosome as all other non-sex chromosomes. Chromosome four spans about
191 million base pairs. Base Pairs are two molecules (nucleotides) on
opposite DNA strands that are connected. Adenine (A) forms a base pair with
thymine (T), as does guanine (G) with cytosine (C) in DNA. Base pairs is how DNA is measured.
There are about 1,154genes in this chromosome.
Chromosome 4 has
received attention primarily related to the search for the Huntington's disease
gene, but also for genes associated with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, polycystic
kidney disease and a form of muscular dystrophy.