To get a feeling for the magnitudes involved, we can represent the proteins by grains
of sand. The ratio between our number of possible proteins with length 100 (10120) and
the number of actually existing proteins (1014) would then correspond roughly to the ratio
between all the sand of the Sahara and one single grain of sand (Luisi, 2006). Our human life
thrives on that grain of sand. And all other grains of sand in the vast Sahara represent sets
of “never born proteins” – proteins that are not with us presently. And the corresponding
DNA codes represent, likewise, DNA stretches and genes which were never born.
of sand. The ratio between our number of possible proteins with length 100 (10120) and
the number of actually existing proteins (1014) would then correspond roughly to the ratio
between all the sand of the Sahara and one single grain of sand (Luisi, 2006). Our human life
thrives on that grain of sand. And all other grains of sand in the vast Sahara represent sets
of “never born proteins” – proteins that are not with us presently. And the corresponding
DNA codes represent, likewise, DNA stretches and genes which were never born.
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