c/science · by cm0002@lemmy.world · 340d

Fish Buttholes May Be The Reason We Now Have Fingers, Study Finds

https://www.sciencealert.com/fish-buttholes-may-be-the-reason-we-now-have-fingers-study-finds

New research reveals that the DNA switches controlling human finger development originated from genes that regulated fish cloacas 380 million years ago[^1].

"Rather than building a new regulatory system for the digits, nature has repurposed an existing mechanism, initially active in the cloaca," explains developmental geneticist Denis Duboule from the University of Geneva[^1].

The research team discovered this by comparing fish and mouse genomes, focusing on Hoxd genes. When they tagged DNA switches with fluorescent markers, these lit up in mouse digits but in fish cloacas. Deleting these genetic elements using CRISPR-Cas9 disrupted finger development in mice and cloaca formation in fish[^1].

"The common feature between the cloaca and the digits is that they represent terminal parts," notes geneticist Aurélie Hintermann. "Sometimes they are the end of tubes in the digestive system, sometimes the end of feet and hands"[^1].

[^1]: ScienceAlert - Fish Buttholes May Be The Reason We Now Have Fingers, Study Finds

266 points · 43 comments · view on lemmy.world

43 Comments

KoboldCoterie@pawb.social · 116 pts · 340d (4 replies)

This is the best out-of-context headline I've read all month.

dohpaz42@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 340d (1 reply)

Thank you for not making me the only person to have immediately gone “there” with that title.

LillyPip@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 340d

Those myocene apes were kinky.

HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 340d

Pairs well with the thumbnail

S_H_K@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 340d

I had to do a triple take to check it it was the Onion Not the Onion or 196... This is some truly crazy shit.

TheTechnician27@lemmy.world · 46 pts · 340d

The Nature article in case you want to skip the pop science and get to the good stuff.

Because Hoxd gene regulation in the mouse urogenital sinus relies on enhancers located in this same chromatin domain that controls digit development, we propose that the current regulatory landscape active in distal limbs was co-opted as a whole in tetrapods from a pre-existing cloacal regulatory machinery.

LillyPip@lemmy.ca · 40 pts · 340d (1 reply)

⊂( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ >-;;⁠;⁠;€ᐷ

Juice@midwest.social · 1 pts · 339d

This post should be hanging in MOMA

toomanypancakes@piefed.world · 34 pts · 340d (3 replies)

What a coincidence, a fish butthole is why I don't have fingers anymore.

Harvey656@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 340d (2 replies)

Oh wow, a toe-typer in the wild!

humorlessrepost@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 340d (1 reply)

🍆 ⌨️

Harvey656@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 340d

That would be quite the articulate shlong.