3 hours ago by
Netherlands, Rotterdam, ErasmusMC
It is easy to compute. You just need the ng of DNA input in the NGS experiment. For example, assume we input 250 ng of DNA (that is what is required in a standard WGS experiment*). Each cell contains 6 pg of DNA, hence, the number of cells is:
250 ng * (1000 pg / 1 ng) * (1 cell / 6 pg**) = 41,667.67 cells
*genomics.broadinstitute.org/products/whole-genome-sequencing
*The amount of 6 pg per cell can be estimated from: human genome is around 6200 Mbp, the average nucleotide molecular weight is about 660 g/bp mol and Avogadro's number is 6.022 10^23. Hence:
6200 Mbp * (10^6 bp/ 1 Mbp) * (1 bp mol/ 6.022 * 10^23 bp) * (660 g/ 1 bp mol) * (10^12 pg/ 1 g)= 6.795 pg
Of course, as stated by ATpoint in the comment, the amount of input DNA highly depends on the NGS experiment.
