The protein-coding content of the human genome is not greatly different than the

Question

The protein-coding content of the human genome is not greatly different than the protein-coding content of organisms such as Drosophila fruit flies and C. elegans roundworms, and is only several-fold larger than that of E. coli. Given the complexity of humans, how is this possible?

My questoin is why is the answer D instead of B please explain.

A) Human proteins are dramatically larger (>10-fold) than proteins in other organisms, taking up ~50% of the human genome. Each protein performs the function of many smaller proteins.

B) Human metabolic pathways are very different from other organisms and have evolved to use fewer proteins.

C) Humans have lost nearly all of the protein-coding genes found in other organisms and developed completely new genes. It is inaccurate to compare their genomes.

D) Changes in the regulation of gene expression predominate in the human genome, rather than changes to gene content.

E) The genomic analysis must be in error; it cannot be true.

Explanation / Answer

Since, the complexity of metabolic pathways depend up on gene regulation, the changes in gene expression regulation influences more than the gene regulation mechanisms. Though the human genome is 10 fold larger and gene expression may be more or less similar with other organisms, the gene regulation changes in humans are quite different from other organisms due to large genome organization and several proteins encoded by genes. Hence, option D is correct.

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