How Humans lost Their Tails: Study

9 Apr 2024

Context

  • Recently, Researchers found an insertion between two pieces of the TBXT gene, which prevented apes from producing a protein required to form a tail.

How Humans lost Their Tails: Key Findings of the Research

  • Losing of Tail: Apes lost their tails approximately 25 million years ago due to a rare insertion of an Alu element in a critical gene during development.
  • Bipedalism
    Bipedalism, the ability to walk upright on two legs, is a defining trait of human evolution. Unlike our primate relatives, who primarily use all four limbs for mobility, humans have evolved to stand upright and walk on two legs.
  • Cause of Taillessness: This insertion interrupted the TBXT gene, producing a faulty TBXT protein and resulting in taillessness.
  • Insertion in Junk DNA: NYU researchers discovered the insertion in ‘junk’ DNA, which is present in all apes but lacking in monkeys.
  • Tail Loss: Engineered mice  embryos carrying the faulty TBXT gene confirmed its role  in tail loss.
  • Bipedalism: The mutation certainly conferred advantages, possibly connected to bipedalism, although the particular benefit remains unknown.
  • Shaping Evolutionary Trajectory: Evolution took advantage of this one-in-a-million event, substantially modifying ape anatomy and dictating their evolutionary course.
  • Evolutionary Adaptations: The findings provide light on the genetic factors behind ape tail loss and demonstrate the complexities of evolutionary adaptations.
  • Evolutionary Relevance: Understanding the evolutionary relevance of tail loss sheds light on the genesis of distinct ape features and their subsequent dominance in the natural world.

Junk DNA

  • About: In genetics, the term junk DNA refers to regions of DNA that are noncoding.
  • Origin: The term “junk DNA” was first used in the 1960s, but was formalized by Susumu Ohno in 1972. 
  • The amount of mutation occurring as a result of deleterious mutations set a limit for the amount of functional loci that could be expected when a normal mutation rate was considered.

 

Also Read: Genetic Inheritance: Evolution, Traits & Role Of Reproduction

 

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