Animal with the most genes is a tiny Crustacean

http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/02/03/animal_with_the_most_genes_a_tiny_crustacean.html

Summary

A recent finding by the Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics says that the animal with the most genes is a tiny, almost microscopic crustacean. The crustacean, Daphnia pulex, has roughly 31,000 genes, while humans have about 23,000. Not only does it have the most of any animal scientists have researched genomes of, it also has the most unique genes. More than one third of the crustacean's genes were never seen in any other animal before. This gene count is thought to be largely caused by Daphnia's multiplication of genes, a rate which is thirty percent greater than a human's multiplication of genes.

Opinion

I found this article very interesting because I wouldn't have assumed that an animal so small could have so many genes. It seems fairly contradictory, seeing as how a human's processes, in my opinion, are much more complex than that of a tiny crustacean. It has been common knowledge for some time now that humans do not possess the most genes (found in the Human Genome Project). It is also amazing to me that DNA can be extracted from something so small as this crustacean. I chose this article because it interested me and opened my mind to new possibilities.

~Will Hart