• Question: Is there a link between the number of chromosomes an orginism has and how old it is on an evolutionary scale?

    Asked by steveo to Lena on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Lena Ciric

      Lena Ciric answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Great question, Setveo.

      I’ve had a bit of a look. The organism with the highest chromosome number is a type of fern (it has over 1000 chromosomes), and they did evolve a very long time ago indeed (about 450 million years). But I can’t really see any other trends. The number of chromosomes has nothing to do with the number of genes that they carry in total.

      Here are some numbers for you: http://www.walterreeves.com/uploads/chromosomesmtr.htm

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