New Evidence That Ability To Form Previously Lost Organs Can Be Maintained

[HuckleB]

New Evidence That The Ability To Form Previously Lost Organs Can Be Maintained Millions Of Years After The Last Known Ancestor Possessed Them:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=38189

"Gone does not necessarily mean forgotten, especially in biology. A recent finding by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and colleagues from the University of Manchester have found new evidence that the ability to form previously lost organs--in this case, teeth--can be maintained millions of years after the last known ancestor possessed them.

Birds do not have teeth. However, their ancestors did--about 70-80 million years ago. The evolutionary loss of teeth corresponded to the formation of the beak that is present in all living birds. Nonetheless, it has been known that if mouse tooth-forming tissue is in contact with bird jaw tissue, the bird tissue is able to follow the instructions given by the mouse tissue and participate in making teeth, and that these teeth look very much like those of mammals. However, Drs. Matthew Harris and John F. Fallon and colleagues have found that modern birds retain the ability to make teeth even without instruction from their tooth-bearing cousins.


..."

[Burried News]

1. I enjoy woodworking. I wouldn't mind getting my prehensile tail back.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Bait for crocodiles? nt

[Orsino]

3. Hmmm. If they're mammal-like teeth...

...then that's not a lost bird teething mechanism being recovered.