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Science 2 September 1988:
Vol. 241. no. 4870, pp. 1230 - 1232
DOI: 10.1126/science.241.4870.1230
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Articles

Genome Size in Conodonts (Chordata): Inferred Variations During 270 Million Years

S. CONWAY MORRIS 1 and E. HARPER 2

1 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, United Kingdom.
2 Department of Earth Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, United Kingdom.

DNA is too unstable to be preserved during fossilization, but it still seems possible to infer the genome content of fossils because in every group of organisms investigated cell size is proportional to quantity of DNA. Accordingly, information on macroevolutionary trends in genome size through millions of years is potentially available. This survey of inferred variation in genome content in fossils is based on measurements of epithelial cells in extinct conodonts over a period of 270 million years. Why genome size varies so widely amongst living organisms is a subject of continuing debate. Paleontology offers a distinct temporal perspective, but lack of data on conodont paleoecology make the proposed adaptive explanations for genome variation difficult to test.

Submitted on March 14, 1988
Accepted on July 1, 1988


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Genome Size Scaling through Phenotype Space.
C. A. Knight and J. M. Beaulieu (2008)
Ann. Bot. 101, 759-766
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MANITOUSCOLEX, A NEW PALAEOSCOLECIDAN GENUS FROM THE LOWER ORDOVICIAN OF COLORADO.
O. LEHNERT and P. KRAFT (2006)
Journal of Paleontology 80, 386-391
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Evolution of DNA Amounts Across Land Plants (Embryophyta).
I. J. LEITCH, D. E. SOLTIS, P. S. SOLTIS, and M. D. BENNETT (2005)
Ann. Bot. 95, 207-217
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Macroevolution, hierarchy theory, and the C-value enigma.
(2004)
Paleobiology 30, 179-202


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)