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The Conversation USA

Not all genes are necessary for survival – these species dropped extra genetic baggage

  • Written by Jessica M. Velez, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Tennessee
The talamanca hummingbird, or admirable hummingbird, is found in Costa Rica and Panama.Milan Zygmunt/Shutterstock.com

Humans, the latest tally suggests, have approximately 21,000 genes in our genome, the set of genetic information in an organism. But do we really need every gene we have? What if we lost three or four? What if we lost 3,000 or...

Read more: Not all genes are necessary for survival – these species dropped extra genetic baggage

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