Evolution of genome size: new approaches to an old problem

Eukaryotic genomes come in a wide variety of sizes. Haploid DNA contents (C values) range >80 000-fold without an apparent correlation with either the complexity of the organism or the number of genes. This puzzling observati on. the C-value paradox, has remained a mystery for almost half a century, despite much progress in the elucidation of the structure and function of g enomes. Here I argue that new approaches focussing on the genetic mechanism s that generate genome-size differences could shed much light on the evolut ion of genome size.