The first feathers in living things were not as complex as the feathers of today’s birds. It is estimated that the first dinosaurs living in the Early Trias period were pipette -like, tube -shaped “protots”.
Geneticist Michel Milinkovitch and Rory Cooper of the University of Geneva focus on a general, named after the popular video game hero Sonic Hedgehog. This gene plays a critical role in embryonic development, including feathers in chickens.
In a study published in 2023, the duo changed this gene and made the scaly feet of the animals hairy.
Scientists, their findings on March 20 in the refereed magazine Plos Biology published in his new work, researching what will happen when they block this gene.
Researchers injected a molecule in chicken embryos that prevented the Sonic Hedgehog gene.
According to Independent Turkish; On the 9th day of the embryonic development, prototors that resembled the dinosaurs began to appear instead of the prickly, complex hair buds that normally occur.
The intervention of scientists also reduced the complex branching model that developed as the feathers mature in the embryo.
However, within about two weeks, the feather development in the embryos has returned to normal. Although there are hairless areas in the body of the animals coming out of the eggs, the offspring had their normal appearance in 7 weeks.
Milinkovitch evaluates the findings as follows: “Our experiments show that a temporary discomfort in the development of foot stamps can permanently turn them into feathers, while the development of the feather shows that it is much more difficult to permanently disrupt itself.”
Although the new study does not give permanent results like the previous one, the Sonic Hedgehog gene plays a critical role in the evolution of feathers. Milinkovitch states that the findings show that genes are very strong in the evolutionary process.
“Now the biggest challenge is now to understand how these genetic interactions have changed in a way that enables prototors to emerge in the early stages of dinosaurs,” scientists says.
