The unique appearance of Hailong's unique gene

Australia's sea dragon grows in the seaweed on the bottom of Australia. Do not look closely when they are seagrass floating in the water. If you look closely, you will find that they are really a little dragon. Hailong is actually a fish, with small shrimp and sea fleas. Because there are no teeth, they suck the food into their mouths. Like all fish, Hailong is also spawning. The difference is that Hailong completes the breeding process by males. It did not hatch in five weeks. As soon as Xiao Hailong is hatched, he can swim, and he must find food to live independently by himself, because the male dragon does not bear the obligation to take care of the young Hailong. Xiao Hailong will take two years to grow to adulthood. Recently, the Chinese Department of Biological Diversity Protection and Green Development Foundation (referred to as China Green Fair, Green Club) International Department learned from an internationally renowned journal about a research on the unique appearance of Hailong's unique genes. Interested friends for reference.

Picture source: shutterstock

There are countless fish in the sea, but Hailong can always stand out from it. They are decorated with folded leaf -shaped decorations, with spine twisted, without ribs and teeth. The most special is that the responsibility of Hailong's breeding is borne by male.

By sequencing the genome of the two kinds of sea dragons, researchers at the University of Oregon (UO) discovered the unique genetic clue of this fish: they lack a group of key genes that can be found in other vertebrates. These genes help guide the development of faces, teeth, and some nervous systems.

Hailong and hippocampus belong to the same family. Researcher Clay Small said, "This family is very different, but Hailong is the most special among this group of fish." Co -researcher Susie Bassham ) Said: "The head and face are very plastic and ductile during evolution, which is very interesting."

Hailong can be a good case for such problems, because they evolve quite fast. The families of Hailong and Herma are separated by about 50 million years ago. From the perspective of evolutionary standards, this is relatively late.

Barcelona, ​​Simer, and other researchers published their research results in the National Academy of Sciences in late June.

Hailong living near the Australian coast makes it difficult for them to study because of the wild environment. Therefore, the laboratory obtained rare organizational samples by cooperating with scientists who raised Hailong's aquariums. Researchers sequen the genome of Ye Hailong and weeds and sea dragons, and compare these gene sequences with the seahorse of the same family. At the same time, it is compared with other hard bone fish such as zebrafish and thorn fish. Essence

The results show that like hippocampus, sea dragon also lacks a large piece of genes that guide development, which may be the cause of their unique form. Compared with the hippocampus, the sea dragon contains more duplicate DNA sequences, called transposers. These gene sequences often copy themselves or move in genomes. They insert themselves into the middle or near the gene, which leads to rapid gene changes, which prevents the normal work of the gene.

The team also uses a special X -ray microscope to capture a high -resolution 3D image of a weeds and sea dragon. They scan this one -foot -long fish in sections, and then stitch the image into a complete picture. Barcelum said: "Before that, no one has shot any part of Hailong with such a high resolution." At this level of detail, researchers can see the fine structure of Hailong bones, or you can understand the unique fish uniquely in depth. How the body structure evolved.

Barcelum said: "We can see that these polyalistic support structures seem to be finely processed to spine spine, and then add meat accessories to the end, which proves that the" decoration "on Hailong has evolved from the piercing and evolved. of."

Scientists at Oregon University hope to disclose Hailong's genome sequences, which will not only help further research on evolution and development of genetics, but also help understand and protect this rare fish.

Compilation: SARA

Review: lucy

Edit: Pierre

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