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Like dinosaurs, being huge is not an advantage throughout history and Paris japonica stands a greater chance of extinction because of its large genome, say researchers.
Paris japonica has 152.23 picograms (pg) of DNA, 50 times bigger than the human genome, which is 3.0 picograms. A picogram is one trillionth of a gram.
Why does that matter? The more DNA there is in a genome, the longer it takes for a cell to copy all of its DNA and divide, thus a key reason why plants living in deserts which must grow quickly after rains have small genomes enabling them to grow rapidly.
The smallest genome? A parasitecalled Encephalitozoon intestinalis, which has just 0.0023 picograms of DNA.
Reported in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
