Which bladderwort had an 82-megabase genome reported in 2013?

Utricularia gibba is the bladderwort whose approximately 82-megabase genome was reported in 2013.

The published assembly is about 81.87 megabases, commonly rounded to 82 Mb, making U. gibba one of the plants with exceptionally small genomes. The genome project was reported in 2013 and identified a compact genome containing a surprisingly typical number of genes. Only about 3% of its DNA was repetitive, an unusually low proportion for a flowering plant.

Utricularia gibba is also called the humped bladderwort or floating bladderwort. It is a small aquatic carnivorous plant found on every continent except Antarctica. Its bladder traps are rapid suction devices that capture tiny aquatic organisms, while its threadlike plant body may float freely or grow attached in shallow water.

The genome finding is often misunderstood as meaning the plant has very few genes. Instead, its importance lies in genome size and organization: U. gibba retains a broadly ordinary gene complement in a remarkably compact amount of DNA. That makes it a useful model for studying genome evolution in plants and in the carnivorous bladderwort lineage.