Habitat Postcards: DNA Decoders
Every living thing has a genome – the full DNA code that contains a huge amount of information about how that lifeform lives and grows.
The Darwin Tree of Life is creating a huge new library of DNA codes for all the species living in the Britain and Ireland. It’ll help researchers understand the history of life on this planet, and the solutions nature has found to challenges we face today. But we believe that there’s no point in building a library if only a few people have access to it. That is why all of our DNA sequences are published openly, for everyone around the world to explore for free.
Below you can decode some DNA sequences from your habitat postcard to find out more about some of the fascinating lifeforms we’ve looked at so far (top tip: start in the middle). We hope you will share our science by sending your postcard, or the link to this website, to someone else – so more people can discover the power of DNA research to conserve the natural world, improve lives, and change the way we do biology.
Don't know how to decode your postcard?
Instructions here
Northern Prongwort
Herbertus borealis
? Plant
? Genome size: 1150 Million DNA base pairs, or about 36% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: up to 20cm
⛰️ Found in mountainous highland and heathland
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 1400 Million years ago
What’s remarkable about it?
It’s only 50 years since H. borealis was found to be a distinct species! Back then we thought it came from both Norway and Scotland, but we now think the plants in Norway are a different species entirely. This means that H. borealis only actually lives on two mountains in Scotland.
What’s great about it?
H. borealis doesn’t seem to sexually reproduce. Instead, new plants grow from broken stem and leaf fragments. This allows the plant to grow in abundance at its site in Scotland, but it also stops it from spreading over long distances and reduces its genetic variation.
Why is its genome important?
The genome of H. borealis may help us understand how it can be so abundant in one place but unable to spread more widely. Liverwort species like H. borealis also contain unique chemical compounds which may have important applications for medical research.
Snow Lichen
Stereocaulon vesuvianum
? Fungi
? Genome Size: 30 million DNA base pairs (estimate), or 1% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: Roughly 20cm across, and 5cm high
⛰️ Found in upland areas on exposed rock
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 1,300 Million years ago
What is remarkable about it?
This white or grey lichen grows in harsh conditions on rocks high up on hills and mountains. It survives through wind, rain, ice and snow and grows small knobbly branches that look similar to coral. The colour and shape of these branches reminded early scientists of the ash plumes from volcanoes, so they named this lichen after the famous Italian volcano Vesuvius.
What’s great about it?
This lichen isn’t one organism but three. The snow lichen fungus (Stereocaulon vesuvianum) works with a green algae and another type of microorganism called a cyanobacteria to provide each other with the nutrients they each need to survive. This process is called symbiosis and allows the lichen to live in places that would otherwise be too harsh or low in nutrients. Where this type of lichen is particularly interesting to scientists is that it can vary this partnership depending on the type of environment it is in, and will eject some of the cyanobacteria if there is already enough nitrogen in its local environment.
Why is its genome important?
The genome of this lichen will show how it evolved its symbiotic lifestyle, and how it is able to change that three-way relationship when its habitat changes. A better understanding of these adaptable organisms will help scientists predict how lichens, fungi and other life will be affected by our changing climate.
Northern Emerald Dragonfly
Somatochlora arctica
? Animal
? Genome Size: 2 Billion DNA base pairs (estimate), or 63% of the size of the human genome.
? Organism size: 5cm long
? Found in moorland bogs and pools, or patrolling wet meadows and open areas of pine forest, in North West Scotland and South West Ireland.
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 525 Million years ago
What is remarkable about it?
Northern Emeralds live life on the margins. Their young nymphs live in boggy areas, often dominated by Sphagnum moss, where there is only very small amounts of surface water. A lack of fish, amphibians and other dragonfly species reduces the risk from predators. But depending on this fragile habitat is risky in itself: the Northern Emerald is classified as “Near Threatened” in the UK.
What’s great about it?
Adult Northern Emeralds like to move around. They hunt both low in the vegetation and higher in the air, can be found in forests as well as open spaces, and live all the way from sea level to as high as 2,000 metres up mountains. Sometimes individuals are found very far from their breeding sites.
Why is its genome important?
While in Scotland the Northern Emerald’s range is relatively large and has increased since 1990, the population in southwestern Ireland remains very small despite plenty of suitable boggy habitat. Genomics may provide some answers to why this is the case.
Common toad
Bufo bufo
? Animal
? Genome size: 5,040 Million DNA base pairs, or over one-and-a-half times the size of the human genome.
? Organism size: 8 – 13cm
? Found in woodland
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 350 Million years ago
What’s remarkable about it?
B. bufo populations have declined drastically over the last few decades, both because of habitat loss, and because of new diseases. As a result, the common toad isn’t all that common any more.
What’s great about it?
Toads are incredible animals. Their skin is permeable, which means that they can breathe through it, but also makes them especially sensitive to pollution in the environment. This means they are a good “indicator species” which can tell us when an environment is under threat.
Why is its genome important?
As well as helping us understand the impact we are having on the environment, B. bufo’s genome might help us to develop new materials and medicines, by understanding the way they produce toxins or mucus.
Chicken of the Woods
Laetiporus sulphureus
? Fungi
? Genome size: 39.9 Million DNA base pairs or about 1% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: 5-25cm
? Found in deciduous forest
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 1300 Million years ago
What’s remarkable about it?
We have no idea how many species of Laetiporus fungi there are! We think there may be lots of species which all look very similar.
What’s great about it?
People like L. sulphureus is great because it is distinctive and edible. But other organisms like it too, because it gets its food by attacking the dead wood in the heart of trees like oak. This doesn’t kill the tree, because L. sulphureus isn’t able to attack living wood. But decomposing the heartwood recycles nutrients that the tree locked in its core many years before, which then feed other organisms such as invertebrates. This also creates cavities in the tree that become homes for other animals including mammals and birds.
Why is its genome important?
In humans L. sulphureus is a traditional medicine for cough, but we now think it may give us treatments for other illnesses, including inflammatory diseases, bacterial infection, diabetes, cancers and immune disorders. Understanding its genome will help us unlock this potential, and will teach us how and why Laetiporus species evolved and became different species.
Mistletoe
Viscum album
? Plant
? Genome Size: 95 Billion DNA base pairs, or more than 30 times of the size of the human genome.
? Organism size: Up to 1 metre across
? Found in spherical clumps usually high in the branches of trees, right across Britain and Ireland.
Last shared an ancestor with you around 1,400 Million years ago
What is remarkable about it?
Six different species of insect only eat mistletoe, including the rare mistletoe marble moth (Celypha woodiana) and mistletoe weevil (Ixapion variegatum). Several birds also enjoy the white berries, most famously the mistle thrush. They help spread the plant’s sticky seeds to other trees. But don’t try eating raw mistletoe yourself – its leaves, berries and stems are all poisonous to humans!
What’s great about it?
This parasitic plant has a romantic and magical reputation. The Christmas kissing tradition can trace its origins back to ancient fertility rites, and Romans reported that druids in ancient Britannia held the plant as sacred – perhaps because it was high off the ground with no roots in the earth?
Why is its genome important?
It is the largest genome of any organism living in Britain and Ireland – and its genome structure is quite unique. When trying to sequence all those As Cs Ts and Gs (with many doing unexpected things) our scientists had to generate more data and use more computing power than for any other species before.
Pearl-bordered Fritillary
Boloria euphrosyne
? Animal
? Genome size: 400 Million DNA base pairs. or about 13% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: 3-5cm
? Found in Deciduous woodland
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 525 Million years ago
What’s remarkable about it?
The Pearl-bordered Fritillary is one of the most rapidly declining species in the UK. It has disappeared from 90% of the places where it could be found in the 1970s.
What’s great about it?
We are now reintroducing new populations of B. euphrosyne to places where we have restored a suitable habitat. As part of this, areas of the Malvern Hills are no longer being grazed by livestock, so that bracken can grow. This is the butterfly’s preferred habitat, and the bracken also encourages the violets which its caterpillars eat.
Why is its genome important?
The project to reintroduce B. euphrosyne is helping us to test a new way of tracking the success of conservation efforts. We now have the complete genome of a single female who we caught in summer 2021, and we will use that to understand where the new butterflies are travelling, how they are interacting with other species, and how they are responding to wind and weather.
Amoeboflagellate
Tetramitus jugosus
? Protists
? Genome Size: 26 Million DNA base pairs (estimate), or 0.7% of the size of the human genome.
? Organism size: Microscopic (0.02mm)
? Found in soil and freshwater
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 1,800 Million years ago
What is remarkable about it?
This protist is a shapeshifter! It can move between rather fluid “amoeboid” form, a tightly packed “cyst” form, and a “flagellated” form with a pair of tail-like appendages it uses to move around.
What’s great about it?
It gobbles up bacteria as its food source.
Why is its genome important?
It is the close relative of another protist, Naegleria fowleri, a.k.a. the “brain-eating amoeba”. This microscopic organism enters via water inhaled through the nose, causing a fatal brain infection. Understanding the genome of its non-lethal relative, T. jugosus, may help find a better treatment for this killer.
Freshwater alga
Euglena gracilis
? Protist
? Genome size: 2000 Million DNA base pairs, or about 63% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: 0.001-0.05cm
? Found in inland freshwater
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 1800 Million years ago
What’s remarkable about it?
E. gracilis is neither a plant nor an animal, but makes its living using strategies from both. Sometimes it eats bacteria in the same way that animals do, but most of the time it seems to prefer using sunlight like a plant.
What’s great about it?
E. gracilis and creatures like it produce around one-third of all the Oxygen in the atmosphere, and in doing so lock away enormous amounts of Carbon Dioxide. But they are also amazing in their own right: they have an “eyespot” which allows them to see where the light is brightest, and they have tails which they use to move towards that light so that they can photosynthesise most efficiently.
Why is its genome important?
By understanding the genome of E. gracilis we hope to be able to harness its ability to lock away carbon dioxide, and at the same time produce new, more efficient biofuels.
Stonefly
Nemurella pictetii
? Animal
? Genome Size: 2.6 Billion DNA base pairs (estimate), or 76% of the size of the human
? Organism size: 1cm
? Found in streams, rivers, ponds and lakes across Britain and Ireland.
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 525 Million years ago
What is remarkable about it?
Stoneflies only like clean water. Their presence in our rivers and streams is a sign of low pollution levels.
What’s great about it?
Stoneflies are some of the most ancient winged insects (part of a big group called Neoptera), and evolved long before the dinosaurs. Knowing more about stoneflies might help us better understand the evolution of other insects – the largest and most diverse group of animals on the planet.
Why is it’s genome important?
This is the first high-quality genome for this species. But the entire Order of stoneflies (Plectoptera) has been studied relatively little. We have so far found 34 different species in Britain and Ireland, but these are hard to tell apart. So this genome will add all sorts of information about stonefly biology and the role they play in their environment.
English Sundew
Drosera anglica
? Plant
? Genome size: 2820 Million DNA base pairs, or about 88% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: 8-25cm
? Found in lowland fen
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 1400 Million years ago
What’s remarkable about it?
In the fenland soils where English sundew grows, nitrogen is in short supply. So to top up their nutrients they catch and digest nitrogen-rich insects!
What’s great about it?
D. anglica tempts insects with a syrupy-smelling mucus, in which they get stuck. It then wraps the insect up with leafy tentacles and secretes more mucus, which digests the insect’s body, allowing it to absorb the nitrogen that the insect contains.
Why is its genome important?
D. anglica can help us understand how plants have adapted to nitrogen-poor environments, as well as teaching us how it has evolved to be a carnivore!
Bracken Map
Rhopographus filicinus
? Fungi
? Genome Size: 460 million DNA base pairs (estimate), or about 14% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: 3-12mm long, 0.8-1.5mm wide
? Found in lots of different habitats, wherever bracken grows.
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 1,300 Million years ago
What is remarkable about it?
This fungus is easy to spot on the large, branching leaves of bracken, a plant which grows in dense clumps all over the UK and Ireland. The fungus appears as a series of long black streaks. When it is well established these streaks join together to form what looks like a map across the bracken and this is where the species gets its name.
What’s great about it?
The Bracken Map fungus is what is known as a plant pathogen – meaning it weakens the bracken it lives on, controlling the size and spread of this plant. In some areas bracken can be a real problem, overgrowing other plants and reducing biodiversity. Without natural controls like this fungus, bracken would be even more of a problem.
Why is its genome important?
The genome of this fungus has not been studied in depth before. The high quality DNA code that Darwin Tree of Life produces will allow scientists to understand how this fungus has become so widespread. Some fungi help biodiversity by controlling dominant plants like bracken, others cause problems for farmers by damaging the plants we eat. Understanding fungal genomes better will give scientists new tools to ensure all life on earth can thrive.
Long-spined Sea Scorpion
Taurulus bubalis
? Animal
? Genome Size: 820 million DNA base pair, or about 24% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: Up to 20cm
?️ Found all along the coast, especially rock pools.
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 450 Million years ago.
What is remarkable about it?
This rock-pool monster can change its mottled colours to blend in better with its surroundings. It is an ambush predator, preying upon crustaceans, molluscs and other fish. Most prey are swallowed whole.
What’s great about it?
The long-spined sea scorpion has an interesting way of dealing with low oxygen in its home: it climbs onto the land and breathes air. However, it is not very mobile when it leaves the water.
Why is its genome important?
We can learn more about the evolution of sophisticated camouflage, and how fish are able to move from the water and onto land.
Yew
Taxus baccata
? Plant
? Genome Size: 12 Billion base pairs, or around 4 times the size of the human genome
? Organism size: Up to 20 metres
⛪ Found in lots of places, from churchyards to cliff tops.
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 1,400 Million years ago
What is remarkable about it?
Yew is a symbol of resurrection, possessing remarkable powers of regeneration. Sweeping branches that touch the ground will root to form expanding patches. In the absence of disease, these ‘walking yews’ could live forever.
What’s great about it?
The foliage of yews have been used to create anti-cancer compounds. The highly poisonous taxane alkaloids found in the tree have been developed into drugs for treating cancer.
Why is its genome important?
As well as helping us produce those very useful alkaloid compounds used in medicine, understanding the yew genome could help the species recover too. Yews are becoming rare in places they were once common. In southern Europe and north Africa, wild yews exist only on high, north-facing slopes. These survivors are now at increased risk of wildfires due to climate change. To conserve the species’ genetic diversity, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has planted a hedge made from yews across the species’ native range.
Orange-Striped Anemone
Diadumene lineata
?️ Animal
? Genome size: 394 Million DNA base pairs, or about 13% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: 1-2 cm
? Found in rocky seashore
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 500 Million years ago
What’s remarkable about it?
D. lineata is one of the most widely spread animals in the world, and can be found on every continent apart from Antarctica!
What’s great about it?
Its success is down to a number of special abilities. It can split itself into multiple new anemone clones and also produces babies which stick to boat hulls. As it travels it can survive huge changes in temperature, and in the levels of salt and oxygen in the water. This means we can use it to understand how species spread, and how that can be linked to their method of reproduction, environmental variation and genetic changes.
Why is its genome important?
D lineata is a “cnidarian”, along with corals, jellyfish and hydroids. These are one of the oldest forms of multicellular life, and have unusual body layouts and complex life cycles. By understanding their genomes we will be able to uncover the mysteries of the evolution of the nervous system, embryos, and the “bilateral” (two-sided) body.
Bootlace worm
Lineus longissimus
? Animal
? Genome size: 351 Million DNA base pairs, or about 11% of the size of the human genome
? Organism size: 1cm wide, 500 – 1500 cm long (and maybe more)
? Found in rocky seashore
⏲️ Last shared an ancestor with you around 680 Million years ago
What’s remarkable about it?
It’s huge! These are the longest animals in Britain and Ireland, and maybe even the world. The longest one recorded was 55m in St Andrews in 1864, although they may have stretched it a bit… but even so that makes it longer than the biggest ever Blue Whale or Lion’s Mane Jellyfish, both of which were around 35m.
What’s great about it?
L. longissimus produces a toxic spit, which it uses to protect itself from predators, and to paralyse the crabs that it eats. This slime also seems to work on cockroaches but not on mammals, so it might be a source of new insecticides.
Why is its genome important?
Understanding the genomes of animals like L. longissimus gives us a huge data bank of potential chemicals that we can use for new medical treatments