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Science 24 May 1996:
Vol. 272. no. 5265, pp. 1098 - 1099
DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5265.1098
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Research News

Elizabeth Pennisi

Cold Spring Harbor, New York--At the recent genome meeting here, researchers homed in on a fundamental question: What's the minimum number of genes needed for a simple organism to survive? Two presentations used contrasting approaches and came up with only slightly different estimates. One group found that 250 genes is the minimum for a modern organism, while another team estimated that 800 genes is enough to do the job.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)