Lizardlike Tuatara Sets a Speed Record for DNA Change


	Lizardlike Tuatara Sets a Speed Record for DNA Change

Silkweaver

12-10-2008 5:45 PM

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tags:

genetics, mutations, living fossils

Silkweaver says:

The finding shows that changes in the genetic code don’t always dictate changes in the appearance, function, or behavior of an organism. “Evolution is multidimensional,” Lambert says. “It’s not just about DNA.”

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/fb7ada33-999d-4639-b8bd-d1d61e664d66/C6CBAB7B-1DBB-49B7-B9BB-AF316BDBEBF8/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063" href="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063" style="font-size: 11px;">discovermagazine.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/discovermagazine.com/img/01FAAFE9-259E-405F-9B53-DD7ADA923976" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063">Often called a living fossil, the tuatara reptile looks as if it has hardly changed in the more than 200 million years since it shared habitat with the early dinosaurs. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063">But appearances can be deceiving. A report published in March in the journal <A target="_blank" href="http://http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TCY-4RS3TBM-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0f78967466008918bc4f16c72a2af3f4" class="external-link" linkindex="25" set="yes"><EM>Trends in Genetics</EM></A></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063">revealed that the lizardlike native of New Zealand has undergone the fastest rate of molecular evolution of any vertebrate animal studied thus far.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063">Evolutionary biologist <A target="_blank" href="http://www.griffith.edu.au/environment-planning/griffith-school-environment/staff/professor-david-lambert" class="external-link" linkindex="26" set="yes">David Lambert</A> of Griffith University in Australia and his team analyzed DNA samples taken from ancient tuatara bones and from living specimens. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063">He found that over the past 9,000 years, parts of the tuatara genetic code have changed 50 percent more quickly than those of any other vertebrate tested by the same method.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/063">Given this high rate of molecular evolution, the stable morphology of tuatara over tens of millions of years is remarkable</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/C6CBAB7B-1DBB-49B7-B9BB-AF316BDBEBF8/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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