DUN DUN. DUUN DUUUN! THE GREAT WHITE SHARK GENOME IS HERE
/Is there any more daunting animal to study than the great white shark? Just you try attaching a radio transmitter or drawing a tube of blood from a two-ton, razor-toothed, meat-seeking missile. But the scientific understanding of these iconic apex predators has been limited by technical challenges as much as a human bias for studying species that reside on closer branches of the taxonomic tree. Sharks evolved from the rest of the animal kingdom 400 million years ago—before the first adventurous amphibians left the oceans for dry land. What could the great white possibly teach 21st century humans?
A lot actually, according to the scientists who have spent years painfully decoding its DNA. Today, they reported their efforts mapping the first great white shark genome in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
