Plants and animals with bigger genomes grow less efficiently – new research helps explain why they never died out

By Kimberley Simpson, Research Fellow, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield

All living things have a blueprint provided by the DNA that is stored in every one of their cells. Yet the amount of DNA in each cell – what we refer to as genome size – spans an incredible range across the tree of life.

In animals, it ranges from the tiny genome of the worm-like marine parasite Intoshia variabili, which is 200 times smaller than a human’s, to that of the marbled lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus), which is estimated to be over 40 times larger than our own. Plants show similar variation, with one – the fork fern (Tmesipteris oblanceolata)…

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