Strategies to Shape the Limbs (IMAGE)

Tokyo Institute of Technology

Strategies to Shape the Limbs

Caption

The balance between growth of the digits (black arrows) and interdigital regions (red arrows) determine if the hands and feet form a webbing in amphibians. Amniotes employ another strategy: their interdigital regions are actively removed by cell death (dark blue). In some species, inhibition of cell death (light blue) was important for the evolution of new limb shapes.

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