Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Genome Sequencing Uncovers New Evolution Evidence

According to experts, genome sequencing is a "laboratory and computational process that determines the complete DNA sequence of an organism's genome." This process has just been successful completed on a famous fish called a coelacanth. 

This fish is said to have prehistoric features because it has a very slow evolution rate, meaning it changes at a much slower rate than others. Recently, because of the genome sequencing this fish has been classified to be similar to a tetrapod, the first four-limbed vertebrates and their descendants, including the living and extinct amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Before this, the coelacanth was considered somewhere in between ray-finned veterbates and tetrapods. This fish is one of the few lobed-finned fish, which are said to have a very long evolutionary history.

According to this research, this fish has adapted from a land to aquatic environment. Researchers think that this fish will provide a great deal of data for the evolution for vertebrates. The only problem is this specie is on the endangered list and can only be studied by deceased fish that were accidentally caught in fishing nets.

Source: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2013/04/17/genome_sequencing_of_the_living_coelacanth_sheds_light_on_the_evolution_of_land_vertebrate.html

Related Articles:

  • http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2012/05/03/new_coelacanth_find_rewrites_history_of_the_ancient_fish.html
  • http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2008/09/22/primordial_fish_had_rudimentary_fingers.html
  • http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2006/05/03/mobile_dna_part_of_evolutions_toolbox.html
Themes of Nature of Science

  • Science is based on evidence
  • Conflicts with the science community
  • Role of motivation and curiosity


By Julia Schroeck
Hour 2/ Gabel



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