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An unassuming butterfly called the Atlas bluish has been confirmed to person the top known fig of chromosome pairs of immoderate animal.
The elusive taxon (Polyommatus atlantica), which is autochthonal to the mountains of North Africa, possesses arsenic galore arsenic 229 pairs per cell.
To enactment that successful perspective, astir different butterflies person 31 oregon 32 pairs. We humans person 23 pairs successful the nucleus of each of our cells.
Related: Animals Are Evolving Along Two Opposite Paths For One Major Reason
Some plants person much chromosomes than the Atlas blue, similar the Adders-tongue fern (Ophioglossum reticulatum) with 720 chromosomes per cell. But that's due to the fact that they tin person up to 10 sets of DNA – the Atlas bluish has but two.
"When we acceptable retired to commencement to recognize improvement successful butterflies, we knew we had to series the astir extreme, and somewhat mysterious, Atlas bluish butterfly," says archetypal writer Charlotte Wright, evolutionary biologist astatine the Wellcome Sanger Institute successful the UK.
Polyommatus atlantica. (Roger Vila)The elusive Atlas bluish is an utmost lawsuit of chromosome improvement that scientists are keen to recognize better. The carriers of its genes successful each compartment are exceptionally small, adjacent for a butterfly.
Wright and her colleagues fishy that successful the comparatively 'rapid' abstraction of 3 cardinal years, the butterfly's autosomes (non-sex chromosomes) became profoundly fragmented.
Over hundreds of 'splitting' events, the archetypal 24 oregon truthful ancestral chromosomes multiplied to go 229. The fractures occurred astatine points wherever DNA was little tightly coiled and frankincense easier to disentangle.
The improvement of chromosomes successful Atlas blue. (Wright et al., Curr. Biol., 2025)Chromosome changes similar these are mostly considered detrimental to life, but the Atlas bluish butterfly has survived for millions of years.
That said, its enactment chromosomes mostly resisted fragmentation, which suggests determination is an evolutionary limitation.
"Breaking down chromosomes has been seen successful different taxon of butterflies, but not connected this level, suggesting that determination are important reasons for this process which we tin present commencement to explore," says evolutionary biologist Roger Vila from Spain's Institute of Evolutionary Biology. Vila led the squad that collected chaotic specimens for the cistron study.
"Rearranging chromosomes is besides seen successful quality cancer cells," adds genomicist Mark Blaxter from Wellcome Sanger, "and knowing this process successful the Atlas bluish butterfly could assistance find ways to bounds oregon halt this successful crab cells successful the future."
The survey was published successful Current Biology.
