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Dangerous Zone
The Wellcome Sanger Institute is one of the world’s leading genomics research centres. In celebration of its 25th Anniversary, the Institute is going to decode the DNA of 25 UK species for the first time…and you can vote to decide 5 of them!
Giant hogweed can grow to 6ft tall | Image: Farbenfreude
From 6th November – 8th December, a team of scientists and wildlife experts will each champion a species they think should have its entire DNA sequence decoded.
This is the Dangerous Zone, which has seven species in the running. Some species are invasive and harmful. They could spread disease, prey on smaller organisms or contribute to the declining population of another organism by competing for food.
In this zone you’ll meet seven species, including the giant hogweed – a plant which causes your skin to blister, and the oak apple gallwasp, which hijack the development of a plant in order for the gallwasp to reproduce.
There is also the Daubenton’s bat, a species which is known to carry a type of rabies virus, and the leathery sea squirt, a sea creature hogging all the food so others are struggling to survive.