{"id":11941,"date":"2017-12-20T15:24:56","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T14:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=11941"},"modified":"2024-03-22T11:50:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T10:50:52","slug":"curious-genomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/science\/curious-genomes\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious genomes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>People sequence the genomes of living creatures for lots of reasons: to see how we could make them more nutritious (plants) or tastier (animals), to see if they can be useful to us (bacteria) or to find out why they\u2019re sick (humans). Sometimes we sequence them just because we\u2019re curious, and we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are millions of species living with us on this planet \u2013 too many to fit in a family album, and quite enough to show how little we know. For example, the <a href=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/science\/1505-tara-oceans\/\">Tara Oceans expedition<\/a> gathered plankton samples from a couple of hundred stops on the 360 million km<sup>2<\/sup> of ocean covering our world. Sequencing those samples has revealed 40 million novel genes so far. Analysing them and trying to figure out which new species they belong to is an exercise in wonder and humility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Genome data at EMBL-EBI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When people publish genomics research on any species, they send their results to public databases like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/ena\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">European Nucleotide Archive<\/a> (ENA). Scientists working for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ensembl.org\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ensembl genome browser<\/a> combine hard-earned knowledge from many studies carried out by laboratories around the world into a single, integrated resource. They carefully plot new information against a reference sequence for each species, and make it available for anyone to use, any time, free of charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ensembl team comes across weird genomes every day. For this special issue on curiosity, they were kind enough to share a selection of their favourites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-11954 size-full\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-centered \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"619\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/CURIOSITY_WeirdGenomes_EBI_fullimage.jpg\" alt=\"The most curious genomes in Ensebl. Credit: Spencer Phillips\/EMBL-EBI\" class=\"wp-image-11954\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/CURIOSITY_WeirdGenomes_EBI_fullimage.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/CURIOSITY_WeirdGenomes_EBI_fullimage-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/CURIOSITY_WeirdGenomes_EBI_fullimage-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">Some of the strangest genomes in Ensembl include wheat, red algae, the California two-spot octopus, sea urchin and the platypus. IMAGE: EMBL-EBI\/Spencer Phillips<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Animals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The platypus gets plenty of attention for its odd appearance, egg laying and venomous legs. But did you know it also has five pairs of sex chromosomes? One pair is similar to the single pair of sex-determination chromosomes found in humans, and another is similar to that found in birds. That link between birds and mammals is certainly food for thought\u2026 but why so many chromosomes, do you think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bit.ly\/platypuspaper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">platypus genome<\/a>.<br \/>Explore the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/platypusgenome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">platypus genome<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">California two-spot octopus, Octopus bimaculoides<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This boneless, clever creature has massive expansions in two \u2018families\u2019 of genes, one of which regulates \u2013 unsurprisingly \u2013 neuronal development. Genes involved in such complex functions often have copies (gene families), which gives a bit of genetic wiggle-room when things go wrong. Scientists used to think the protocadherin and C2H2 gene families (involved in neuronal development and gene regulation, respectively) were only expanded in vertebrates. Is it the beautiful coordination of eight arms, or the highly developed escape artistry that has demanded these expansions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/octopusgenomepaper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">octopus genome<\/a>.<br \/>Explore the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/octopusgenome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>octopus bimaculoides<\/em>&nbsp;genome<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The genome of this spiky, slow-moving \u2018hedgehog of the sea\u2019 has an unusually large number of gene families involved in its immune response. It also has a vast collection of pathogen-recognition proteins. Like the two-spot octopus, it has genes that you\u2019d normally think were just for vertebrates \u2013 including orthologs (gene cousins) to human genes associated with disease, vision, hearing, balance and sensing chemical stimuli. Applications for health, anyone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bit.ly\/seaurchinpaper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sea urchin genome<\/a>.<br \/>Explore the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/seaurchingenome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sea urchin genome<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Algae<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Galdieria sulphuraria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This species of red algae is an acid- and heat-loving extremophile. It gives an interesting example of \u201chorizontal gene transfer\u201d. What\u2019s that? Well, say you were swimming in a lake, and as you glided along your genome collected some new genes from the lily pads in the water. Pretty weird, right? That\u2019s horizontal gene transfer. It doesn\u2019t usually happen between animals and plants \u2013 it\u2019s more common among unicellular organisms, like bacteria. To survive in hostile environments, extremophiles need specialised genes that have not evolved in the <em>Galdiera suphuraria<\/em> lineage<em>. <\/em>Instead, this alga has gained its ability to resist acid and heat by borrowing genes from extremophillic bacteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/redalgaepaper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">red algae genome<\/a>.<br \/>Explore the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/redalgaegenome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Galdieria sulphuraria<\/em> genome<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Plants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wheat, Triticum aestivium<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You may not think wheat is particularly weird when you\u2019re tucking into your toast, but did you know that wheat is hexaploid? That means it has six copies of each chromosome (humans have two of each). This brings its genome to a whopping 17 giga base pairs (17,000,000,000 bp) long: five times the size of the human genome. How did it get this big? Modern bread wheat is actually derived from three different species that have cross-bred \u2013 and it retains the genetic material of all three ancestors. Because of that, most of its genes exist in several copies, which have similar sequence and function. That makes the bread-wheat genome one of the most difficult to decipher and modify, for example to make it resistant to drought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/GRwheatgenome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wheat genome<\/a>.<br \/>Explore the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/wheatgenome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wheat genome<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ensembl is waiting for\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Paris japonica<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This slow-growing, octoploid mountain flower has the largest genome of all. It consists of 149 giga base pairs (or 50 times larger than a human genome) and 40 chromosomes. Scientists don\u2019t fully understand why some organisms have evolved huge genomes, or what has enabled these species to survive in spite of the hard work of maintaining a huge genome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Find out more about the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/genomesizepaper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">upper limit to genome size<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; Ends &#8211;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/about\/news\/press-releases\/curious-genomes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"canonical nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/about\/news\/press-releases\/curious-genomes\">EMBL-EBI News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the strangest genomes in EMBL-EBI&#8217;s Ensembl?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11946,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17591],"tags":[538,85,496,76],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-11941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-science-technology","tag-curiosity","tag-ensembl","tag-genome-biology","tag-service"],"acf":{"article_intro":"<p>All living things are made from the same stuff \u2013 DNA \u2013 but some genomes really show off the wonderful weirdness of Nature<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"Ensembl Genomes","link_url":"http:\/\/ensemblgenomes.org\/"},{"link_description":"Ensembl Plants","link_url":"http:\/\/plants.ensembl.org\/index.html"}],"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53"},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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