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Chromosome 5 is the fifth largest chromosome of the 23 chromosomal pairs in humans and represents nearly 6% of the total DNA. Despite being one of the largest chromosomes, chromosome 5 has a low gene density due to a significant proportion of the chromosome having non-coding gene regions.
Chromosome 5 is submetacentric. This means that the centromere that usually forms the central point of a chromosome, lies away from the centre, making one arm of the chromosome longer than the other. The chromosome shares a 99% similarity with chromosome 5 found in chimpanzees.
Chromosome 5 is the 12th chromosome to have completed gene sequencing in the Human Genome Project. It comprises 9 million base pairs that make up 923 genes. Sixty-six of the genes are known to be involved in human disease if they are mutated. Chromosome 5 also contains clusters of genes that code for the immune signalling molecules, interleukins.
Some of the genes present on chromosome 5 include: