Sea lamprey genomics
The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is an important model in evolutionary biology. It was discovered in 2009 (https://www.pnas.org/content/106/27/11212.long) that the genome of the sea lamprey undergoes extensive programmed genome rearrangement during development, where ~0.5 Gb (around 20%) of DNA is eliminated from the genome. The somatic tissues contain smaller genomes and only the germ cells retain the full complement of genetic material. The genome of the sea lamprey had been sequenced previously from the blood and liver, so only the somatic genome has been thoroughly characterized (https://www.nature.com/articles/ng.2568). Read more