Plants and animals with bigger genomes grow less efficiently – new research helps explain why they never died out

All living things have a blueprint provided by the DNA that is stored in every one of their cells. Yet the amount of DNA in each cell – what we refer to as genome size – spans an incredible range across the tree of life.

In animals, it ranges from the tiny genome of the worm-like marine parasite Intoshia variabili, which is 200 times smaller than a human’s, to that of the marbled lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus)...