Genes like to stick together and are dispersed widely throughout the human genome, separated by vast areas that Collins compared to a desert. Chromosome 19 contains more genes than any other chromosome. The human gene count is much lower than expected. As was widely reported in the media, the researchers predict that humans have only about 30,000 genes, a number previously estimated to be around 100,000. The mustard weed has almost as many genes as we do.
Human genes can make more proteins per gene than simpler organisms.
Human proteins are more architecturally complex compared to other organisms than we previously thought. If other organisms' proteins are like a knife, ours are like a Cuisinart. More than 200 human genes are the result of the horizontal transfer from bacteria. Yes, we got some of our genes from bacteria, according to Collins, through contamination that somehow breached the traditional boundaries. A major component of this junk appears to actually have an important function.