The genome (sometimes spelled geneome) is, in the broadest use of the term, the full set of genes or genetic material carried by a particular organism representing a particular species or population. The size of a genome is usually measured in numbers of genes or base pairs.

In a report published in the February 2001 issue of the international scientific journal nature (usually spelled in the lowercase) researchers reported findings that indicated that the human genome consisted of far fewer genes than previous projected by estimation of phylogenic relationships between humans and other species.

Recent estimates fix the size of the human genome at about 30,000 genes, far fewer than the 100,000+ genes of previous estimates. By contrast, some worms carry about 22,000 genes in their genome.

As of 2001 there are several ongoing international genome projects and programs with an underlying and common goal of mapping the specific base sequences that constitute...