- Who
- Genlisea tuberosa
- Where
- Brazil ()
- When
No other flowering plant (aka angiosperm) has a smaller genome (an organism's total genetic material) than the carnivorous Genlisea tuberosa, a corkscrew plant endemic to Brazil. According to a study published in the journal Annals of Botany in December 2014, this plant has a mere 61 megabase pairs (or 61 million base pairs), which are the basic building blocks of DNA. The human genome, by contrast, is comprised of around 3 billion base pairs and the largest plant genome - that of the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) - has a staggering 26.5 billion base pairs.
A small genome is a common feature to several members of the corkscrew plant family (genus Genlisea), native to South America, Central America and Africa. These carnivorous plants use modified subterranean leaves (which bear a resemblance to roots owing to their lack of chlorophyll) to trap micro-organisms such as protozoans living in the soil. A tiny aperture (c. 400 micrometres in diameter) in the tip of the root allows the unwitting tiny creatures access to the root, but then backwards-facing hairs within the root prevent it from leaving once it has ventured too far inside.
Prior to genetic analysis of corkscrew plants, the smallest known plant genome (and indeed the first to ever be studied) was that of mouse-ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana, part of the mustard family) found in Africa and Eurasia, with around 135 million base pairs.
