Naked-mole ratsFLICKR, BOB OWEN
Cancer-free mole rat
Species: Naked-mole rat, Heterocephalus glaberGenome size: Estimated around 3 billion base pairsInteresting fact: Although it is not much bigger than a mouse, the naked-mole rat can live up to seven times longer, to around 30 years—making it the longest-lived rodent as well as an attractive animal model for the study of aging. It is also remarkably resistant to aging diseases such as cancer.
Naked Mole-Rat Genome Resource 2011
Complex potatoes Species: Potato, Solanum tuberosumGenome size: 844 million base pairsInteresting fact: It may be one of the most common crops, but the potato has an incredibly complex genome consisting of about 39,000 protein coding genes (around 10,000 more than the human genome). Most potato varieties also carry four copies of every chromosome, with ...
