The journal Science has published the recently completed 200-million base-pair genome sequence of the water flea, Daphnia pulex. The DNA code is the largest number of genes ever recorded for a multicellular animal (more than in the human genome!), and one-third are of unknown function.Chris Detter of the Laboratory’s Genome Science and leader of the Joint Genome Institute/LANL Center is a member of the scientific team that chose to study Daphnia because it is a keystone species in freshwater ecosystems and a sensitive environmental indicator.
Read more at the Los Alamos National Laboratory News Center.