How many total chromosomes are needed...?

Question

to hold one human blueprint in a cell?

and how many total gene codes are found in one human blueprint in a cell?

any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks.

Answer 1

I'm not quite sure what you're asking.  Do you mean how many of our chromosomes are necessary to have a full set of genetic instructions to make a human?  Theoretically that would be 23 (including an X chromosome) because then you would have one copy of each chromosome and therefore all the genes.

And, if the second part is asking how many genes humans have, we don't know exactly and the estimate has been dropping each time we get more information.  Current estimates are about 20,000-22,000 genes.

Answer 2

From the Human Genome Project "...estimated 30,000 human genes".  

From Science, "Our genomes and those of other mammals are far more flexible and complicated than they once seemed. The old notion of one gene/one protein has gone by the board: It is now clear that many genes can make more than one protein."