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The nuclear genome of a single human cell (i.e., the entire diploid complement) contains about 6.6 billion (6.6 × 10⁹) base pairs of DNA. If synthesis at each replication fork occurs at an average rate of 50 nucleotides per second, all the DNA is replicated in 5 minutes. Assume that replication is initiated simultaneously at all origins.
-Assuming that the origins are approximately equally distributed across the chromosomes, what is the average number of origins per human chromosome?

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To find the average number of origins per chromosome, calculate the total number of replication forks needed to replicate 6.6 billion base pairs in 5 minutes at 50 nucleotides per second. This gives 6.6 billion / (50 nucleotides/second * 300 seconds) = 440,000 replication forks. Since each origin has two forks, the number of origins is 440,000 / 2 = 220,000. Dividing by 46 chromosomes gives approximately 4783 origins per chromosome.

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