Using a particular genetic cloning process, researchers have sequenced the complete genome of the commercially-valuable loblolly pine tree. With a single pollinated pine seed, researchers compiled “the largest genome ever sequenced: 22.18 billion base pairs, more than seven times longer than the human genome. The team found that 82% of the genome was made up of duplicated segments, compared with just 25% in humans.” The research team’s next project? The even greater challenge of sequencing the genome of the sugar pine tree which boasts double the number of base pairs (guanine-cytosine and adenine-thymine, the building blocks of the DNA double-helix) than the loblolly. See additional details here.