The Evolution of Limbs from Fins
Neil Shubin is interested in understanding how human limbs evolved from fish fins. To answer this question, Shubin searched for a fossil intermediate between fish and tetrapods. Far in the Canadian arctic, he and his colleagues found Tiktaalik roseae, a 375 million year old fossil of a flat-headed fish with fin bones corresponding to limb and wrist bones. Shubin and his lab then switched gears and used developmental genetics to investigate the evolution of limb development. Specifically, they looked at Hox genes, known to be important in mammalian limb development. Comparing Gar fish and mouse, they found similar patterns of Hox gene expression in fish fins and mouse forelimbs.
This combination of fossil and genetic evidence suggests that the distal regions of fish fins evolved into wrist bones in mammals.
Dr. Neil Shubin is a Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago.
(from ibiology.org)
| The Evolution of Limbs from Fins |
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