Moose
We are about 99.9% similar to each other in terms of DNA base-pairs. One in every 1000 bp will be differnt between you and your neighbour.
So that's about 30 million variations across 3.1 billion bps. Only a small fraction of the genome is coding DNA (about 3%) suggesting about 1 million differneces in these regions (probably less due to preferential conservation in coding regions).
The differences between individuals are 'allelic' meaning that the set of genes (at least for healthy individuals) is identical. The changes simply adjust strengths of interactions and catalyases.
If your body is working then all of your tens of thousands of nanomachine types will be happily going about exactly the same jobs that they are performing in your neighbour.
[This message has been edited by Tranquility Base, 10-31-2002]
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