The DNA of Life at its Limits
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956_:
The DNA of life at its limits:
Scientists have unraveled the complete genome of the tomato russet mite, which is considered one of the smallest animals on our planet and known as a destructive agricultural pest. The genome is the smallest reported to date for an arthropod and offers intriguing new insights into the organization of the tiniest lifeforms on Earth. The international consortium of European and American researchers, including UvA biologist Merijn Kant, now published their findings in the scientific journal eLife.
[...] The researchers sequenced the genome of A. lycopersici because it belongs the Eriophyoidea, a group of about 4,000 highly derived miniaturized animal species for which no representative genome was yet available. [...] "The tomato rust mite genome is much smaller than that of any other arthropod sequenced until today," says last author Merijn Kant from the UvA Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics. "Its size is in the same range as that of fungal genomes." The consortium discovered that the mite's genome contains most of the gene families one would expect for an animal, although these are extremely reduced and several genes believed to be essential for animals were found to be absent.
Especially noteworthy in the russet mite genome is that 80% of its genes have no introns. "Introns are the dark matter of our genomes," Kant says. "These are chunks of non-coding DNA littered in large quantities across genes. No one knows why they are there or where they came from."[...]
Journal Reference:
Robert Greenhalgh, Wannes Dermauw, Joris J Glas, et al. Genome streamlining in a minute herbivore that manipulates its host plant, (DOI: 10.7554/eLife.56689)
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