Genome of fish Globe: from ancestors to man

2005/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Genetika

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The genomes of a dozen species have already been decoded. The genetic map of the fish Tetraodon nigroviridis has been added to this list. Comparing the genome of this fish with that of other animals can obtain important information about the evolution of the genomes.

Among vertebrates, the balloon fish is the animal with the most genome. Their cells contain eight to nine times less DNA than humans. This feature has facilitated the work of genetics a little, but they have carried out enormous research, since they have published a genetic map of great precision.

Going back in evolution, the fish globe and man share the same anchor: a vertebrate that lived some 450 million years ago. The balloon has compared the genomic sequence of the fish with that of man and have proposed how the genome of the ancestor of both could be. According to the researchers, this missing brother had only 12 pairs of chromosomes.

After separating from man in evolution, the balloon doubled the fish genome. However, after bending large amounts of excess DNA were removed. Thus, they have seen that each chromosomal zone of the human being coincides with the two of Tetraodon. In addition, comparing the genome of the balloon fish with that of man, 900 human genes have been found that no one had observed before.