Study reveals Tmesipteris oblanceolata, a small fern, houses the largest genome with 160 billion base pairs, surpassing human genome by 50 times.
Research raises questions about genetic material management; a small portion is protein-coding genes. Evolutionary biologist Ilia Leitch compares finding genes to 'trying to find a few books in a million-book library.'
The discovery challenges previous genome size limits. Botanical Institute of Barcelona co-author, Jaume Pellicer, expresses surprise at the unexpected genetic enormity in the fern species.
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