Credit: American Livestock Breeds Conservancy

The tasty turkey

The turkey genome was published in the journal PLoS One in November of 2010, just in time for the Thanksgiving meal! The turkey clocked in at 1.1 billion base pairs, about a third the size of the human genome, and bears a close resemblance to its relative, the chicken, whose genome was completed in 2004.

This work could lead to meatier, healthier birds, according to the researchers, by providing a better understanding of the turkey's muscles and taste and can help farmers improve disease resistance and treatment.