Seeing double in arachnid genomes: new insights into the consequences of whole genome duplication in animals

Research published today in BMC Biology finds that whole genome duplication, a process in which an organism’s entire genome duplicates, occurred in the lineage leading to spiders but not their distant arachnid relatives, ticks and mites. Here to discuss this research and whole genome duplication in the ancestors of vertebrates and other chelicerates is author of the study, Alistair P. McGregor.