Contact: Daniel Kane
dbkane@ucsd.edu
858-534-3262
University of California - San Diego

Which came first, the chicken genome or the egg genome?

Caption: Which came first, the chicken genome or the egg genome? Researchers from UC San Diego, U. of Washington School of Medicine and elsewhere have answered a similarly vexing (and far more relevant) genomic question: Which of the thousands of long stretches of repeated DNA in the human genome came first? And which are the duplicates? This work marks a significant step toward a better understanding of what genomic changes paved the way for modern humans, when these duplications occurred and what the associated costs are – in terms of susceptibility to disease-causing genetic mutations. The chicken shape in the image is actual segmental duplication data from figure 2 of the Nature Genetics paper. The egg was created with graphics editing software. Image Credit: Daniel Kane/ UC San Diego

Credit: Daniel Kane / UC San Diego

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Related news release: Which came first, the chicken genome or the egg genome?