New techniques boost understanding of how fish fins became fingers

Science Daily ^ | 8/17/2016 | University of Chicago Medical Center

[JimSEA]

One of the great transformations required for the descendants of fish to become creatures that could walk on land was the replacement of long, elegant fin rays by fingers and toes. In the Aug. 17, 2016 issue of Nature, scientists from the University of Chicago show that the same cells that make fin rays in fish play a central role in forming the fingers and toes of four-legged creatures.

After three years of painstaking experiments using novel gene-editing techniques and sensitive fate mapping to label and track developing cells in fish, the researchers describe how the small flexible bones found at the ends of fins are related to fingers and toes, which are more suitable for life on land.

"When I first saw these results you could have knocked me over with a feather," said the study's senior author, Neil Shubin, PhD, the Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. Shubin is an authority on the transition from fins to limbs.

"For years," he said, "scientists have thought that fin rays were completely unrelated to fingers and toes, utterly dissimilar because one kind of bone is initially formed out of cartilage and the other is formed in simple connective tissue. Our results change that whole idea. We now have a lot of things to rethink."

[soycd]

>Horse crap.

Deer and Horses both eat grass, why is their poop different?

[JimSEA]

Not really, there are lung fish around today and DNA studies on the gene expression that has been involved. The fin to feet adaptation morphology has been seen in a number of fossils but the fin to feet were not so well understood as gill to lungs (and gill plus lungs as well).

[PROCON]

..why is their poop different?

Global warming?

[soycd]

>God’s made up HIS mind ... why shouldn’t I ?
>Or YOU, for that matter ?

There is no more evidence God is a HE, SHE or other than there is of nothing happening all at once.

I think of particle petahertz rather than the limits of electron terahertz. Ill of mind some may say ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBsA2ETp7JA

[knarf]

Right ... some ..... may .....

[jospehm20]

I was thinking of fish sticks too

[Texas Songwriter]

It looks like they are trying to prove intelligent design.

[avenir]

“Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.”

—GK. Chesterton

[soycd]

>It looks like they are trying to prove intelligent design.

For those that understand math and probabilities, the action of DNA favors intelligent design. I see no reason why not.

[Busko]

With this new revelation where is all the fish that should have fingers by now. Haven’t seen any or have I read about anyone catching any fish with hands and feet. Darwinism is what it is, a junk science and has a cult following of the left anti Religion crowd. Also I could make an image on a computer and morph it into anything I want!

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Yes, it had to be Fish Fingers as you can’t eat Fish Fins.

[lurk]

Genetically impossible, but we’re supposed to be tolerant these days, so,....have fun with that.

[TexasTransplant]

That is NOTHING!

I know how to turn Fish Fins and Tails into Fish Chips!
(a little Chipolata or Sriracha dip and your tongue will wrestle you to plate after plate of delicious goodness!)

[bankwalker]

Sounds fishy ...

[JimSEA]

Natural selection will not favor fish with fingers. Think about it. Tiktaalik Lived in a shallow marine environment! Not the open sea. Fins that helped him push through the mud and sand plus lungs for the very shallow region near land gives a limited environment. Food and no competition for insects and plants on shore beckoned the creature. This gives a big advantage to increased ability in land and near land environments. Natural selection here is very unlike the open ocean.

Think of the whales and the dolphins. At one point, their ancestors had legs, feet and fingers. While the remnants of these feet and legs are found in their embryo, and vestigial legs, fingers exist in some marine mammal species, they aren’t functional (kind of like our tail). They have returned to the ocean and haven’t lost their lungs - yet.

[panaxanax]

I’m still trying to figure out why men have nipples. I have three, which compounds my confusion.

When I look into the animal world I see that almost all mammals have five fingers with the exception of the 3 toe sloth and some salamanders. Even they can grow an entire new limb complete with elbow joints and new toes.

And how about that snake that has two tiny front legs?

What an interesting world we live in, huh?

[JimSEA]

Interesting it is. I keep having to remind myself that natural selection isn’t natural perfection. For one thing I’d be a lot better looking and smarter.

[b4me]

I think it’s as simple as any person who comes up with an idea then makes variations of that idea and then creates a whole bunch of variation possibilities of those initial variations. IE: all sorts of heads, necks, bodies, arms, legs, feet, colors even stripes and dots, skin types, fur types. God just had a blast using His imagination!

That’s all God did. Made animals, insects, creatures with all kinds of variations in one day. and that day He said it was good.

Then the next day took many of the best parts and included a part in His image and likeness and made humans. But again did not make all of us exactly the same. And that day He said it was VERY good.

I don’t see why science can’t see how simple that is.

[BroJoeK]

Psalm 73: "Sooo, he's seen the transitional fossils?"

How about living transitions?
Here is a mudskipper fish and salamander amphibian:

Texas Songwriter: "It looks like they are trying to prove intelligent design."

The real question is: did God Create the entire Universe intelligently enough that it could, following God's natural laws, evolve organic chemistry to steadily complexifying simple life, or did God need to intervene with various mid-course corrections to force life back on His track?

My opinion is the former, but am open to legitimate suggestions of the latter.

[Psalm 73]

"How about living transitions? Here is a mudskipper fish and salamander amphibian..."

Good points.
But there is still no proof of one species becoming an entirely different species.
I believe the available evidence would point that these creatures have always been what they are, rather than in the process of becoming an entirely new species.