Enamel evolved in the skin and colonized the teeth much later
Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - 12:20
in Paleontology & Archaeology
When did the enamel that covers our teeth evolve? And where in the body did this tissue first appear? In the latest issue of the journal Nature, researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden and the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing, China, combine data from two very different research fields - palaeontology and genomics - to arrive at a clear but unexpected answer to this question: enamel originated in the skin and colonized the teeth much later.