News in Brief Plants

Giant genomes felled by DNA sequencing advances

Complete genetic blueprints collected for several conifer species

The genetic sequence of the Norway spruce (shown) could shed light on the evolution of the seed-bearing plants called gymnosperms.

Gertjan Hooijer/Shutterstock

By Puneet Kollipara

- More than 2 years ago

Your Christmas tree may dwarf you not only in height but in its genome. At 20 billion bases of DNA, the newly sequenced genome of the Norway spruce, a popular Christmas tree in Europe that can reach heights above 30 meters, is six times larger than the human genome.