Genomes of the Year

摘要

Notable sequences of 2013: The oldest human mitochondrial DNA, which comes from a 400,000-year-old Neandertal ancestor found in Spain but mysteriously resembles that of a different extinct human • The oldest organismal genome, from a 700,000-year-old frozen horse hoof • Other complete genomes came from the comb jelly, changing views of the animal tree of life • Minke whale, revealing how marine mammals cope with deep dives • Amborella, sister to all flowering plants, explaining the early days of angiosperms • Tiger, lion, and snow leopard, capturing the genomic essence of big cats • The scorpion Mesobuthus martensii (at right), which has 10,000 more genes than humans do • Norway spruce (Picea abies), white spruce (Picea glauca), and, soon, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), each with genomes about seven times the size of a human's-a sequencing tour de force • The invaluable HeLa cancer research cell line, requiring permission from the family of Henrietta Lacks • King cobra and Burmese python, telling an evolutionary tale of extreme adaptations • Four bats which, when compared to dolphins, highlight a common core of echolocation genes • Pigeon, revealing the gene for crests • Irish famine potato blight, showing that this historic strain is extinct.