Comparative Genomics
Linking evolution to DNA sequences
Modern techniques ? more complete genome sequences
allow direct comparison of organisms’ genomes
- some genes are highly conserved through evolution
- other genes show high divergence through evolution
- number of genes and genome size varies among species
Species Genome size # genesHumans 3,200 Mbp 30,000Mouse 2,500 Mbp 30,000Pufferfish 365 Mbp 33,609Fruit fly 137 Mbp 13,600Anopheles mosquito 278 Mbp 46,000 - 56,000Rice 430 Mbp 32,000 - 55,000Plasmodium (malaria) 23 Mbp 5,300Nanoarchaeum 0.5 Mbp ?