Genome sizes and corresponding composition of six major model organisms as pie charts. The increase in genome size correlates with the vast expansion of noncoding (i.e., intronic, intergenic, and interspersed repeat sequences) and repeat DNA (e.g., satellite, LINEs, Short interspersed nuclear element (SINEs), DNA (Alu sequence), in red) sequences in more complex muiticellular organisms. This expansion is accompanied by an increase in the number of epigenetic mechanisms (particularly repressive) that regulate the genome.

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