Abstract

A Footnote to the Evolution of Digits

Highlights

  • Half a billion years ago, the first fourlegged land animal crawled out of the sea onto dry land

  • Fossil records suggest that tetrapod legs evolved step by step from fins, and comparative gene expression studies have provided some insights into how mutation and natural selection derived long limb bones from fin precursors

  • Are tetrapod digits homologous to fish radials? Did the genetic capacity for digit differentiation exist in fish ancestors, or is it unique to tetrapods? In their recent PLOS Biology article, Denis Duboule, Joost M

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Summary

Introduction

Half a billion years ago, the first fourlegged land animal crawled out of the sea onto dry land. Colleagues shed new light on these questions from a comparative analysis of the regulatory mechanisms that control when and where certain members of the Hox gene family are turned on and off in zebrafish fins and mouse limbs.

Results
Conclusion

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