NEW YORK (AP) -- To millions of people, the Christmas tree is a cheerful sight. To scientists who decipher the DNA codes of plants and animals, it's a monster. <\/p>\n
We're talking about the conifer, the umbrella term for cone-bearing trees like the spruce, fir, pine, cypress and cedar. Apart from their Yuletide popularity, they play big roles in the lumber industry and in healthy forest ecosystems. <\/p>\n
Scientists would love to identify the billions of building blocks that make up the DNA of a conifer. That's called sequencing its genome. Such analysis is a standard tool of biology, and doing it for conifers could reveal genetic secrets useful for basic science, breeding and forest management. <\/p>\n
But the conifer genome is dauntingly huge. And like a big price tag on a wished-for present, that has put it out of reach. <\/p>\n
Now, as Christmas approaches, it appears the conifer's role as a genetic Grinch may be ending. <\/p>\n
In recent months, scientific teams in the United States and Canada have released preliminary, patchy descriptions of conifer genomes. And a Swedish team plans to follow suit soon in its quest for the Norway spruce. <\/p>\n
\"The world changed for conifer genetics,\" said David Neale of the University of California, Davis. It's \"entering the modern era.\" <\/p>\n
What happened? Credit the same recent technological advances that have some doctors predicting that someday, people will have their genomes sequenced routinely as part of medical care. The technology for that has gotten faster and much cheaper. <\/p>\n
\"Until just a few years ago, the idea of sequencing even a single conifer genome seemed impossible,\" said John MacKay of the University of Laval in Quebec City, who co-directs a multi-institution Canadian project that's tackling the white spruce. The new technologies changed that, he said. <\/p>\n
How big is a conifer genome? Consider the 80-foot Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York. It's a Norway spruce, so its genome is six times bigger than that of anybody skating below it. Other conifer genomes are even larger. <\/p>\n
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