SnapShot: Key Numbers in Biology
Uri Moran,1
Rob Phillips,2
and Ron Milo1
1
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; 2
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
See online version for legend and references.1 Cell 141, June 25, 2010 ©2010 Elsevier Inc. DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2010.06.019
One molecule in an
E. coli volume
Signaling proteins
Ribosomes
in E. coli Total protein
ATP
Total
metabolites
10-3 100 103
Protein diffusion
across E. coli
Step of RNA
polymerase
Protein diffusion
across HeLa cell
mRNA half life
in E. coli
Molecular motor
1 m transport
Generation time
E. coli
Budding
yeast HeLa cell
Howfast?Howmany?
10-9 10-6 10-3 Concentration (Molar)
Time (seconds)
Howbig?
10-9 10-6
Water molecule
Protein
Membrane
thickness
Ribosome Light microscope resolution
Transport vesicle E. coli
Budding
yeast
HIVGlucose
Adherent
mammalian cell
Size (meters)
Useful biological numbers extracted from the literature. Numbers and ranges should only serve as “rule of thumb” values. References are
in the online annotated version at www.BioNumbers.org. See the website and original references to learn about the details of the system
under study including growth conditions, method of measurement, etc.
Concentration
Concentration of 1 nM:
in E. coli ≈1 molecule/cell;
in HeLa cells ≈1000 molecules/cell
Characteristic concentration
for a signaling protein: ≈10 nM-1 M
Water content: ≈70% by mass; general
elemental composition (dry weight) of
E. coli: ≈C4
H7
O2
N1
; Yeast: ≈C6
H10
O3
N1
Composition of E. coli (dry weight): ≈55%
protein, 20% RNA, 10% lipids, 15% others
Protein concentration: ≈100 mg/ml = 3 mM.
106
-107
per E. coli (depending on growth rate);
Total metabolites (MW < 1 kDa) ≈300 mM
Energetics
Membrane potential ≈70-200 mV 2-6 kB
T
per electron (kB
T thermal energy)
Free energy ( G) of ATP hydrolysis under
physiological conditions
≈40-60 kJ/mol ≈20 kB
T/molecule ATP;
ATP molecules required during an E. coli
cell cycle ≈10-50 × 109
G0
resulting in order of magnitude ratio
between product and reactant
concentrations:
≈6 kJ/mol ≈60 meV ≈2 kB
T
Cell size
Bacteria (E. coli): ≈0.7-1.4 m diameter,
≈2-4 m length, ≈0.5-5 m3
in volume;
108
-109
cell/ml for culture with OD600
≈1
Yeast (S. cerevisiae): ≈3-6 m diameter
≈20-160 m3
in volume
Mammalian cell volume: 100-10,000 m3
;
HeLa cell: 500-5000 m3
(adhering to
slide ≈15-30 m diameter)
Length scales inside cells
Nucleus volume: ≈10% of cell volume
Cell membrane thickness: ≈4-10 nm
“Average” protein diameter: ≈3-6 nm
Base pair: 2 nm (D) x 0.34 nm (H)
Water molecule diameter: ≈0.3 nm
Division, replication, transcription,
translation, and degradation rates
at 37°C with a temperature dependence (Q10) of ≈2-3
Cell cycle time (exponential growth in
rich media): E. coli ≈20-40 min;
budding yeast 70-140 min;
HeLa human cell line: 15-30 hr
Rate of replication by DNA polymerase:
E. coli ≈200-1000 bases/s;
human ≈40 bases/s. Transcription by
RNA polymerase 10-100 bases/s
Translation rate by ribosome: 10-20 aa/s
Degradation rates (proliferating cells):
mRNA half life < cell cycle time;
protein half life �cell cycle time
Diffusion and catalysis rate
Diffusion coefficient for an “average”
protein: in cytoplasm D≈5-15 m2
/s
≈10 ms to traverse an E. coli ≈10 s
to traverse a mammalian HeLa cell; small
metabolite in water D≈500 m2
/s
Diffusion-limited on-rate for a protein:
≈108
-109
s-1
M-1
for a protein substrate
of concentration ≈1 M the diffusion-limited
on-rate is ≈100-1000 s-1
thus limiting the
catalytic rate kcat
Genome sizes and error rates
Genome size:
E. coli ≈5 Mbp
S. cerevisiae (yeast) ≈12 Mbp
C. elegans (nematode) ≈100 Mbp
D. melanogaster (fruit fly) ≈120 Mbp
A. thaliana (plant) ≈120 Mbp
M. musculus (mouse) ≈2.6 Gbp
H. sapiens (human) ≈3.2 Gbp
T. aestivum (wheat) ≈16 Gbp
Number of protein-coding genes:
E. coli = 4000; S. cerevisiae = 6000;
C. elegans, A. thaliana, M. musculus,
H. sapiens = 20,000
Mutation rate in DNA replication:
≈10-8
-10-10
per bp
Misincorporation rate:
transcription ≈10-4
-10-5
per nucleotide
translation ≈10-3
-10-4
per amino acid
2  Cell 141, June 25, 2010 ©2010 Elsevier Inc.  DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2010.06.019
SnapShot: Key Numbers in Biology
Uri Moran,1
Rob Phillips,2
and Ron Milo1
1
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; 2
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Biology is becoming increasingly quantitative. Taking stock of key numbers in cell and molecular biology enables back-of-the-envelope calculations that test and sharpen our
understanding of cellular processes. Further, such calculations provide a quantitative context for the torrent of data from new experimental techniques. However, such useful
numbers are scattered in the vast biological literature in a way that often leads to a frustrating literature-mining ordeal. Here, we have collected a set of basic numbers in biology
that we find extremely useful for obtaining an order of magnitude feel for the molecular processes in cells. Several examples (see below) show how to combine these numbers
to think about biological questions. The values should be considered rules of thumb rather than definitive values as variety is the spice of life and variability is ever present in
biology. This compilation is based on the BioNumbers wiki project (http://www.BioNumbers.org) where these and the values of several thousand other biological properties are
provided together with their experimental context and references to the primary literature.
Is There Enough Time to Replicate the Genome?
The bacterium Escherichia coli has a genome of roughly 5 million base pairs (bp) and a replication rate in the range of 200–1000 bp/s. These numbers imply that it should take
the two replisomes at least 2500 s to replicate the genome, a number that is much larger than the maximal division rate of ?20 min. How can this be? It turns out that, under
ideal conditions, E. coli uses nested replication forks that begin to replicate the DNA for the granddaughter and great granddaughter cells before the daughter cells have even
completed replication.
How Many Mutations in a 5 ml Culture of Bacteria?
Using the 10−9
/bp mutation rate of E. coli per replication and a genome size of ?107
(both strands), we predict ?10−2
mutations per genome replication. In a 5 ml saturated culture
(optical density ?2.0) of E. coli, there are about 109
to 1010
cells. The final doubling of this culture requires the replication of ?109
cells, thus even this last cell division event would
be responsible for ?107
single base pair substitutions. If the culture started with a single bacterium, every single nonlethal base pair substitution in the E. coli genome is likely
to be represented in the culture.
How Long to Reach Confluence?
In a 96 multiwell plate, each well has a diameter of 5 mm (i.e., an area of ≈20 mm2
= 2 × 107
µm2
). Given that the diameter of a HeLa cell is ≈25 µm (i.e., ≈500 µm2
area), it takes
roughly 40,000 cells to reach confluence. Starting with a single cell (obtained by cell sorting rather than cell splitting) with a generation time of about 1 day, the time to reach
confluence is about 2 weeks.
How “Dense” Is a Saturated E. coli Culture?
A saturated E. coli culture has about 109
cells/ml. Given that each cell is about 10−12
grams, we get a cell concentration of about 1 mg/ml or about 1 part in a thousand of the mass
(or volume). The mean spacing between the cells is roughly 10 µm (which is not as dense as the concentration of bacteria in the gut of the termite where densities are typically
a factor of ten higher).
How Many Carbon Atoms Are in a Cell?
A cell with a volume of 1 µm3
and a density of about 1 g/ml has a total mass of 10−12
grams. From the formula C4
H7
O2
N1
and the weights of the elements, we derive a carbon content
of about 12 × 4/(12 × 4 + 7 + 2 × 16 + 14) = 48/101 or about one half of the dry mass. With 30% dry mass (70% water), we obtain ?10−13
gm of carbon. Next we transformed
the number of molecules using Avogadro’s constant: 6 × 1023
× 10−13
/12 = 5 × 109
carbon atoms per cell. To verify this, we have done the calculation in a different way: assuming
there are about 3 × 106
proteins, each one consisting of about 300 amino acids, we get a total of ?109
amino acids. An amino acid has about five carbon atoms, so we arrive at
a similar value. Both estimates depend linearly on the cell volume, which can vary significantly based on growth conditions.
How Far Can Macromolecules Move by Diffusion?
It takes about 10 s on average for a protein to traverse a HeLa cell. An axon 1 mm long is about 100 times longer than a HeLa cell, and as the diffusion time scales as the square
of the distance it would take 105
seconds or ?2 days for a molecule to travel this distance by diffusion. This demonstrates the necessity of mechanisms other than diffusion for
moving molecules long distances. A molecular motor moving at a rate of ?1 µm/s will take a “reasonable” time (?15 min) to traverse an axon 1 mm in length.
Acknowledgments
We thank Uri Alon, Niv Antonovsky, Danny Ben-Zvi, Erez Dekel, Idan Efroni, Avigdor Eldar, Yuval Eshed, Nir Friedman, Hernan Garcia, Paul Jorgensen, Michal Kenan-Eichler, Jane
Kondev, Marc Kirschner, Avi Levy, Michal Lieberman, Elliot Meyerowitz, Elad Noor, Dave Savage, Maya Schuldiner, Eran Segal, Benny Shilo, Guy Shinar, Alex Sigal, Rotem Sorek,
Mike Springer, Bodo Stern, Arbel Tadmor, Rebecca Ward, Detlef Weigel, Jon Widom, and Tali Wiesel for help in preparing this SnapShot.
References
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