You might think that the more evolved an organism is, the larger its genome is? Well, you are wrong. Already in 2012, researchers estimated that there are 150 billion base pairs of DNA from a plant called Paris Japonica.
Plants have large genomes
Today, a team from Gardens vegetarianvegetarian The Royal Family of Kew (UK) and the Barcelona Botanical Institute (Spain) reveal in the magazine iScience that GenomeGenome From a rare fern – named after Temisiptris oblansulata – It was found in New Caledonia, and has a record size of more than 160 billion base pairsDNADNA.
For comparison, human DNA contains only about 3 billion base pairs. Once dismantled, the piece hidden in the nucleus of a human cell is about two meters long. that T. oblanceolata Almost 100 meters!
A large genome is not necessarily useful
To date, scientists have estimated the genome sizes of more than 20,000 organisms EukaryotesEukaryotes on LandLand. Genomes show different sizes that prove to have a profound impact not only on humansanatomyanatomy of organisms – because larger genomes need larger cells to house them and take longer to reproduce – but also on how they function, how they evolve, and where and how they live. So, enjoying a larger genome is generally not an advantage. Plants with the most DNA also have them PhotosynthesisPhotosynthesis Least effective and needed NutrientsNutrients more important. This would make their adaptation to human-induced global warming more difficult.
