Thread: GURPS Uplift
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Old 05-19-2011, 02:31 PM   #49
Pragmatic
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Vancouver, WA (Portland Metro)
Default Re: GURPS Uplift

It doesn't even need to be all that complicated, I think.

You don't need the sequences of (let's use Magehound's example) a couple thousand genetically diverse Angus cattle. (Current theory is that you only need about 50-150 genetically diverse individuals to have a viable breeding population, depending on how strict or lax a breeding program was.)

You only need to catalog the differences from a baseline. I think I read that humans vary only within about 1% of their DNA. So just find out where they vary (and they don't vary across the WHOLE 1%...), and try to avoid obvious genetic defects.

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Given that, you'd need to store the baseline, and a few thousand suggested variations (say, about 0.5% of the size of the baseline, for the sake of argument). How much space would that take up in computer memory? About the size of 6 completely-sequenced DNA chains, right? (Not sure you'd need to store the baseline for each breed of domesticated animal...)

A little internet searching says that the human DNA chain takes up roughly 786MB (i.e., about the size of a fully-loaded CD). To completely produce one breed, you'd need about 4.7GB (i.e., about the size of a fully-loaded single-sided DVD).
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