Mutant zebrafish transform their fins to be closer to limbs (IMAGE)

Harvard University, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

Mutant zebrafish transform their fins to be closer to limbs

Caption

Human limbs have multiple long bones that articulate end on end and allow for a wide range of movements (left). Normal zebrafish, on the other hand, have no such articulation in their diminutive fin skeleton (middle). Scientists have now discovered mutant zebrafish that grow new bones away from the body in pattern similar to limbs (right). The new mutant bones develop using the same genes used to make the forearm (pink in left and right skeletons).

Credit

M. Brent Hawkins

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