Counting fish teeth reveals regulatory DNA changes behind rapid evolution, adaptation
Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 05:03
in Biology & Nature
Threespine sticklebacks, small fish found around the globe, undergo rapid evolutionary change when they move from the ocean to freshwater lakes, losing their armor and gaining more teeth in as little as 10 years. A biologist shows that this rapid change results not from mutations in functional genes, but changes in regulatory DNA. He pinpoints a gene that could be responsible for teeth, bone or jaw deformities in humans, including cleft palate.