Faster rates of evolution are linked to tiny genomes, study finds

Inside every cell lies a genome—a full set of DNA that contains the instructions for building an organism. Across the biological world, genomes show a staggering diversity in size. For example, the genome of the Japanese white flower Paris japonica is over 150 billion base pairs, meaning that almost 100 meters of DNA are squeezed into each cell. In comparison, single-celled prokaryotes like bacteria have tiny genomes, averaging less than 5 million base pairs. Some prokaryotes have even smaller genomes that are fewer than 500,000 base pairs. But scientists still don't fully understand the driving forces responsible for reducing the size of genomes.

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