![]() ![]() ![]() The very same "architect" genes also drive fin development. Joost Woltering, first author on the study and an assistant professor in the Evolutionary Biology group at the University of Konstanz led by Professor Axel Meyer. "During embryogenesis, a suite of 'architect' genes shapes an amorphous group of precursor cells into fully grown limbs," explains Dr. To solve the puzzle of how limbs emerged from fins during evolution researchers have focused on embryonic development. Insights from embryonic development: limb "architect" genes The team's research, which is reported in the latest issue of Science Advances, shows that a primitive hand is present in lungfish fins but at the same time suggests that the unique anatomy of limbs with digits only evolved during the rise of tetrapods through changes in embryonic development. For these reasons the fins of lungfish provide a better reference to study the evolutionary transition of fins into limbs than any other extant fish species. The Australian lungfish is the closest living fish relative of tetrapods and is often considered a "living fossil" as it still resembles the fishes that were around at the time when the first four-limbed vertebrates began to walk on land. An international team of biologists based at the University of Konstanz (Germany), Macquarie University in Sydney (Australia) and the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples (Italy) has determined how limbs have evolved from fins using embryos of the Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) for their study. ![]()
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