Genome Digest

What researchers are learning as they sequence, map, and decode species’ genomes

Written byCatherine Offord

| 5 min read

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Left: Myxozoan spores (K. iwatai), each about 10 micrometres in diameter. Right: a moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), about 25 centimeters across.LEFT: UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, A. DIAMANT; RIGHT: UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, P. CARTWRIGHT (VIA EUREKALERT)

Species: Kudoa iwatai
Genome size: 22.5 million base pairs

The evolutionary origin of a large group of microscopic parasites called myxozoans was confirmed by a study published in PNAS last fall (November 16), and the result is somewhat surprising. Myxozoans are in fact tiny, degenerated jellyfish.

Sequencing the genomes of two myxozoan species at the University of Kansas Medical Center, researchers found that these peculiar parasites evolved from free-living marine animals. With a genome more than 20 times smaller than that of the average jellyfish, myxozoan species Kudoa iwatai has one of the smallest animal genomes ever reported.

“Because they’re so weird, it’s difficult to imagine they were jellyfish,” study coauthor Paulyn Cartwright of Kansas said in a press release, adding that each individual has ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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