File talk:Tree of life with genome size.svg

This image ("Tree of life with genome size.svg") allegedly indicates "genome size" numerically and graphically (by the sizes of the bars).

However, the chart seems to indicate that the species "Oryza Sativa" has a very large genome size (almost twice the size of the human genome, according to the chart), when, in fact, it has a very small genome size. (Look at the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for that species.)

Also, the chart seems to indicate that the species "Arabidopsis Thaliana" has a very large genome size (a few percent larger than the human genome size, according to the chart), but, again, that species actually has a very small genome size. (Look at the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for that species.)

Anyhow, either some of the numbers and graph bars on that chart are very wrong, or the meaning of the whole chart is very unclear.

98.164.208.82 (talk) 11:30, 16 June 2009 (UTC)Colin

the green dot
what does it indicate?--Dojarca (talk) 10:15, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * It seems to indicate that it has the biggest genome. There is (as the comment above points out) definitely something fishy going on in this chart. Oryza sativa is known for having a tiny genome. I'm also surprised by our relation to plants - but that's probably just because i don't know anything about it :) --Thomas (talk) 01:40, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The red section seems to represent the Eukaryotic section of the tree of life - Plants and Animals are all Eukaryotes, whereas the green and blue section of the tree are prokaryotes.

I think the reason why the numbers seem off is because the "size of gename" numbers only count the protein coding sections of the genome, and ignore the various RNA-coding and "junk" section of the genome. Note that such a distinction is silly and is a relic of a time when the role of RNA in gene coding and protein production was less understood than it currently is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.44.181.93 (talk) 02:16, 10 August 2009 (UTC)


 * The fact that the color red corresponds to eukaryotes and that green & blue correspond to prokaryotes should be mentioned in a legend on the chart. --Zalmoxe (talk) 18:40, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

other variations on Wikipedia
This seems quite similar to: should they be merged? Kevink707 (talk) 15:57, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

chart colors
The colors red, blue, and green on the chart correspond to eukaryotes, prokaryotes, and archea, respectively. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.181.226.212 (talk) 06:39, 2 November 2010 (UTC)