Genomic sequencing: the complexity conundrum.
The concept of 'organismal complexity' has had a chequered career in genetics, with no rigorous operational definition available for the term. The recent finding that Drosophila melanogaster has more than four thousand fewer genes than the nematode forces a re-examination of whether gene number, in itself, can be taken as any real guide to complexity.
Brookfield
J F
JF
Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK.
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D017344:Genes, Insect; D016678:Genome; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity