Scientific American - USA (2022-02)

Marbled lungfish, Protopterus aethiopicus: 130,000 Mbp

Neuse River waterdog, Necturus lewisi: 118,000 Mbp

Mountain grasshopper, Podisma pedestris: 16,600 Mbp

Tree frog, Hyla arborea: 4,760 Mbp

Humpback whale,

Megaptera novaeangliae: 3,628 Mbp

Human,

Homo sapiens: 3,055 Mbp

Common garter snake,

Thamnophis sirtalis: 2,405 Mbp

American robin,

Turdus migratorius: 1,360 Mbp

Pufferfish, Takifugu

rubripes: 390 Mbp

Snail,

Biomphalaria glabrata: 930 Mbp

Fruit fly, Drosophila

melanogaster:

140 Mbp

10 Mbp

Dog and

cat genome

sizes are

very close

to humans’

10,000 Mbp

Area enlarged

100 Million base pairs (Mbp) 1,000 10,000 100,000

Insects

Mollusks

Amphibians

Reptiles

Birds

Mammals

Range of Genome Sizes within Animal Groups (dots correspond to genomes depicted below)

Genome Sizes of Select Animals (rings drawn to scale)

Cartilaginous Fishes

Bony Fishes

Graphic by Mark Belan

A Kaleidoscope of Genomes

The marbled lungfish holds the record for the largest animal genome on Earth ( colored rings, below ). The Neuse River waterdog,

a rare salamander, is not far behind. The human genome ( purple ring ) is just average size, about 43 times smaller than the lungfish’s

and 22 times larger than a fruit fly’s. Bird genomes have the narrowest range; amphibian genomes vary wildly ( chart ).

The genomes of insects and

mollusks vary considerably in size,

yet the range for vertebrates is

even broader—greatest for bony

fishes and amphib ians and least

for reptiles, birds and mam mals.

Sizes are measured in base pairs—

chemical building blocks of the

DNA that forms genes. The

complete set of an organism’s

genes constitutes its genome.

Source: Animal Genome
Size Database, 2021.
T. Ryan Gregory.
https://www.
genomesize.com ( data )