As a result of the ground-breaking work of Barbara McClintock, many

As a result of the ground-breaking work of Barbara McClintock, many scientists now believe that all of the information encoded in 50,000 to 100,000 of the different genes found in a human cell are contained in merely three percent of the cell’s DNA.

(A) 50,000 to 100,000 of the different genes found in a human cell are contained in merely
(B) 50,000 to 100,000 of the human cell’s different genes are contained in a mere
(C) the 50,000 to 100,000 different genes found in human cells are contained in merely
(D) 50,000 to 100,000 of human cell’s different genes is contained in merely
(E) the 50,000 to 100,000 different genes found in a human cell is contained in a mere


There is a subtle 3:2 split between ‘are’ and ‘is.’ (A), (B), and (C) have ‘are’ near the word human cell, and (D) and (E) have ‘is.’

If we look for the subject of this verb, we can trace it all the way back to ‘all of the information.’ ‘All’ is one of those indefinite pronouns in which the number of the subject is determined by the subject that comes after the preposition ‘all.’

Here that subject is ‘information’ which is singular. Therefore, we can eliminate the ‘are’ answer choices (A), (B) and (C).

Next, notice ‘the’ next to the numbers (which according to this thread most have ☺). The use of ‘the’ slightly changes the meaning.

The phrase ’50,000 to 100,000 of the different genes’ implies that this range is not the total number of genes in a human cell. From the meaning of the sentence, it needs to be clear that 50,000 to 100,000 are the total number of genes found in the human cell. Therefore, we need ‘the,’ and the answer is (E).