1/31/2024 0 Comments Signalscope electric fish![]() The new research identifies the genetic factors the electric eel used to create an organ that can deliver a jolt several times more powerful than standard household current.Įlectric fish have long fascinated humans. The new work, which includes the first draft assembly of the complete genome of an electric fish, the South American electric eel, identifies the genetic factors and developmental paths the animals used to create an organ that, in some instances, can deliver a jolt several times more powerful than the current from a standard household electrical outlet. Their taxonomic diversity is so great that Darwin himself cited electric fishes as critical examples of convergent evolution, where unrelated animals independently evolve similar traits to adapt to a particular environment or ecological niche. Worldwide, there are hundreds of electric fish in six broad lineages. “What is amazing is that the electric organ arose independently six times in the course of evolutionary history,” says Lindsay Traeger, a UW–Madison graduate student in genetics and a co-lead author of the new report along with Jason Gallant, an assistant professor of zoology at Michigan State University.Īdds Gallant: “The surprising result of our study is that electric fish seem to use the same ‘genetic toolbox’ to build their electric organ,” despite the fact that they evolved independently. The study published in Science provides evidence to support the idea that the six electric fish lineages, all of which evolved independently, used essentially the same genes and developmental and cellular pathways to make an electric organ, needed for defense, predation, navigation and communication. “These fish have converted a muscle to an electric organ,” explains Sussman, a professor of biochemistry and director of the UW–Madison Biotechnology Center, who first undertook the exploration of the electric organ almost a decade ago. The work establishes the genetic basis for the electric organ, an anatomical feature found only in fish and that evolved independently half a dozen times in environments ranging from the flooded forests of the Amazon to murky marine environments. Writing Jin the journal Science, a team of researchers led by Michael Sussman of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Harold Zakon of the University of Texas at Austin and Manoj Samanta of the Systemix Institute in Redmond, Washington identifies the regulatory molecules involved in the genetic and developmental pathways that electric fish have used to convert a simple muscle into an organ capable of generating a potent electrical field. Scientists have found how the electric fish evolved its jolt. New research, which includes the first draft assembly of the complete genome of an electric fish, the South American electric eel, identifies the genetic factors the animals used to create an organ that can deliver a jolt several times more powerful than standard household current.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |