Great white shark genome decoded (earthsky.org)
By Eleanor Imster in Earth | March 3, 2019
Itll help unlock mysteries about these iconic apex predators explaining their superpowers like wound-healing and long lifespans and why theyve thrived more than 400 million years.
In a major step toward understand the biology of the great white shark, its entire genome has now been decoded in detail.
The iconic predator whose ancestry dates back more than 400 million years is famous not just for its massive size (up to 20 feet or 6.1 meters) and fierceness, but also for its wound-healing abilities, long lifespan (70-odd years), and low rates of cancer.
The new study, published February 19, 2019, in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, compared the great whites genome to genomes from a variety of other vertebrates, including the giant whale shark and humans. It turns out that the great whites genome is massive they have 41 pairs of chromosomes compared to our 23 and the researchers say that decoding their genome could help reveal the genetic changes behind the sharks evolutionary success.
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https://earthsky.org/earth/great-white-shark-genome-decoded