A fern named Tmesipteris oblanceolate has entered the record books for having more DNA than any other living thing. Found in New Caledonia, this tiny plant’s genome, if unraveled, would stretch to about 100 meters.
SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE
Scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, describe it as an extraordinary discovery. The fern’s genome size is 160 billion base pairs, which is 50 times more than the human genome. This raises questions about its functioning and survival mechanisms with such an enormous amount of DNA.
RESEARCH DETAILS
• Location: New Caledonia and neighboring islands. • Habitat: Grows on trunks and branches of rainforest trees. • Genetic Analysis: Conducted by measuring dye bound to the DNA.
WORLD RECORDS
The fern holds three Guinness World Records:
1. Largest genome
2. Largest plant genome
3. Largest fern genome
Adam Millward from Guinness World Records emphasized the remarkable nature of this discovery, highlighting that even unassuming plants can hold significant scientific secrets.
GENOMIC DIVERSITY
While many plants have large genomes, the reasons behind this and its impact on plant function and extinction risk remain topics of ongoing research. This discovery adds a new dimension to understanding the plant kingdom’s complexity.
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