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Smallest Recorded Genome Possessed by the Antarctic Midge

August 12, 2014 By Sebastian Mc’Mannen Leave a Comment

Antarctica looks like it is out of this world. That is why many experiments focused on assessing the possibility of discovering alien life take place in the icy environment. Because of the extreme conditions, there are just a few endemic species surviving on land. Most of the continents’ fauna lives in the neighboring oceans. There is one insect that can only be found on the icy continent and it has the smallest recorded genome in the world of insects.

The Antarctic midge, scientifically named Belgica Antarctica, is a 0.23 inches (6 mm) insect. We are looking at the largest terrestrial animal from Antarctica. Some ticks and mites, which are clearly smaller, live on the continent as well.

The insect fascinates scientists with its survival skills. The Antarctic midge spends two winters in larval form only to live as adults for up to 10 days.

Washington State University genomics researcher Joanna Kelley analyzed the animal and discovered that the Antarctic midge possesses the smallest insect genome. It has only 99 million base pairs of nucleotides. The insect which was thought to hold the tinniest genome sequence so far is the body louse, with 105 million base pairs. The human genome holds 3.2 billion genome pairs.

The bread wheat genome, which was thought to be impossible to sequence, because of its complexity, has been deciphered by scientists as well recently.

Smallest recorded genome helps the Antarctic Midge survive the extreme environment

“We suspect that it’s somehow an adaptation to the extreme environment,” says Kelley. “And it opens up a lot of interesting hypotheses to hopefully test by sequencing additional Antarctic organisms or sub-Antarctic organisms, because there are other flies, or Diptera, on some of the sub-Antarctic islands. We’re really interested to see whether or not they have similar genomes.”, LiveScience reports.

Smallest recorded genome in the insect world belongs to the Antarctic midge

The insect is not equipped with wings and just a few smell receptors. Most of the midge’s 13.500 genes are focused on development, as the animal spends most of its life in larval form. The insect is so resistant that it can survive even if 70 percent of its body water is dried out. They are able to achieve the performance due to their numerous aquaporins. This genes take care of the cells’ water transfer. Moreover, the Antarctic midge can survive extreme temperature fluctuations and exposure to ultraviolet light, because the smallest recorded genome adapted to the environment.

The research results were published in Nature Communications journal on August 12.

Filed Under: Science Tagged With: antarctic midge, belgica antarctica, genome, genome sequence, insect genome

Bread Wheat Genome Sequenced by Researchers

July 18, 2014 By Jack M. Robinson Leave a Comment

Bread is the staple food for millions of people. Because of that, the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium formed in 2005 studied the bread wheat genome sequence and published important results in four papers in the journal Science. The chromosome-based draft genome sequence of bread wheat is important because 700 million tons of bread are produced annually. The findings will likely have a deep impact over how a large part of the planet eats.

Discovering that molecular vibration speeds photosynthesis is another important recent scientific finding which might change agricultural methods.

Bread wheat genome sequenced but does it resolve the problem of food distribution?

Genetically modified organisms have been debated for a long time now. Corporations as Monsanto are constantly being accused of producing newly engineered crops without a comprehensive knowledge of the how the new crops will interfere with human organisms. Important plant characteristics are usually irrelevant for companies who search profit stemming from the quantity rather than the quality of the crops.

Bread wheat genome has been sequenced by researchers.

“This resource is invaluable for identifying those genes that control complex traits, such as yield, grain quality, disease, pest resistance and abiotic stress tolerance,” researcher Eduard Akhunov, stated.  “They will be able to produce a new generation of wheat varieties with higher yields and improved sustainability to meet the demands of a growing world population in a changing environment,” he added.

But can we afford to negate the importance of genetically modified organisms in a world where millions of people live on the edge of starvation? Probably not, but there are underlying problems requiring debate. Small farmers all over the world are influenced by the actions of large corporations who have the access to political power structures. Moreover, in a world where obesity is reaching epidemic scales and famine is still widespread, the basic problem lies in the food distribution system, rather than production.

Because of its complexity, the bread wheat genome (Triticum aestivum) has been thought to be impossible to sequence because its size is more than five times that of the human genome. Bread wheat is a versatile plant and can already be adapted to a large variety of environments. With the new results, the necessary conditions to plant high yield wheat crops become less burdening than ever. The main article titled “A chromosome-based draft sequence of the hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) genome” is available on Science from July 18.

Filed Under: Science Tagged With: bread, genome sequence, wheat

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