Scientists have discovered the organism with the largest known genome, containing 160 billion base pairs. That makes it more than 50 times bigger than the human genome, and the organism it’s describing is a tiny fork fern you wouldn’t even notice if you tripped over it in the forest.

It’s a fern.

  • ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔
    7•7 months ago

    I was really hoping this article would say more about what this means, but this is all we get…

    Intriguingly, bigger isn’t always better when it comes to genomes, the team says. Large-genomed plants tend to have slower growth, require more nutrients and perform photosynthesis less efficiently. As such, it’s thought that T. oblanceolata is bumping up against the upper limits for genome size.