A new study reveals ferns' history of DNA hoarding and kleptomania. Ferns are infamous for having an enormous number of chromosomes and massive amounts of DNA. A fern no larger than a dinner plate currently holds the record for highest chromosome count, with 720 pairs packed into each of its nuclei
Ferns are vascular plants that reproduce through spores and do not have seeds or flowers.Ferns are infamous for having an enormous number of chromosomes and massive amounts of. A fern no larger than a dinner plate currently holds the record for highest chromosome count, with 720 pairs packed into each of its nuclei. Scientists have been baffled by ferns’ tendency to hoard DNA, and the intractable size of their genomes has made it challenging to sequence, assemble, and interpret them.
The Ceratopteris genome analysis provides hints for answering the long-standing puzzle of why ferns store more DNA than other plants on average. Comparisons to other species’ genomes revealed that ferns stole the genes for some of their anti-herbivory toxins from bacteria.Since the 1960s, the most favored explanation for why ferns contain so much DNA invoked rampant whole-genome duplications, in which an extra set of chromosomes is accidentally passed on to an organism’s offspring.
If Ceratopteris had bulked up on DNA through repeated genome duplication events, researchers expected large portions of its 39 chromosome pairs would be identical. What they found instead was a mixed bag of repetitive sequences and millions of short snippets called jumping genes, which accounted for 85% of the fern’s DNA. Rather than multiple genome copies, Ceratopteris mostly contains genetic debris accumulated over millions of years.
“What we seem to be finding is that things like flowering plants, which on average have much smaller genomes than ferns, are just better at getting rid of junk DNA. They’re better at dropping spare chromosomes and even downsizing after small duplications.”A closer look at the billions of DNA base pairs within Ceratopteris revealed multiple defense genes that code for a particularly sinister type of pore-forming toxin.
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