Biology is a Burrito: A text- and visual-based journey through a living cell

A View of the Cell Biology is a Burrito Numbers and mathematics help us to see biology with fresh eyes. By Niko McCarty 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 gallon-sized jug with some nutrients and waited a few hours, the genomes of its descendants, placed end-to-end, would reach to the moon and back...several times.1 One rarely pauses to ponder how so much DNA — let alone sugars, proteins, lipids, and other molecules — can fit inside such a small vessel. A typical E. coli cell, after all, measures about one micrometer across. Its entire volume is 100 times smaller than that of a red blood cell, and about 100 million times smaller than a grain of sand.

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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Burrito.