Study of Arctic fishes reveals the birth of a gene—from 'junk'
Monday, February 11, 2019 - 15:40
in Biology & Nature
Though separated by a world of ocean, and unrelated to each other, two fish groups—one in the Arctic, the other in the Antarctic—share a surprising survival strategy: They both have evolved the ability to produce the same special brand of antifreeze protein in their tissues. A new study describes in molecular detail how the Arctic fishes built the gene for their antifreeze from tiny fragments of noncoding DNA, regions once considered "junk DNA."