Researchers assemble error-free genomes of 16 animals-with another 70,000 coming up
Date Time Researchers assemble error-free genomes of 16 animals-with another 70,000 coming up Until recently, there was no reliable genome sequence for the endangered kakapo. Credit: Chris Birmingham, CC BY 2.0 The flightless kakapo of New Zealand is in trouble. The world’s heaviest parrot-representing one of the most ancestral branches of the parrot family tree-is nearly extinct, with barely 200 adults plodding the underbrush of four small islands. Whether the last of the kakapos had the genetic resilience to survive was a question that only high-quality genomic analysis could answer. But ...