Premium
Birds have dinosaur wings: The molecular evidence
Author(s) -
Vargas Alexander O.,
Fallon John F.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part b: molecular and developmental evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-5015
pISSN - 1552-5007
DOI - 10.1002/jez.b.21023
Subject(s) - biology , wing , evolutionary biology , numerical digit , zoology , arithmetic , mathematics , engineering , aerospace engineering
Abstract Within developmental biology, the digits of the wing of birds are considered on embryological grounds to be digits 2, 3 and 4. In contrast, within paleontology, wing digits are named 1, 2, 3 as a result of phylogenetic analysis of fossil taxa indicating that birds descended from theropod dinosaurs that had lost digits 4 and 5. It has been argued that the development of the wing does not support the conclusion that birds are theropods, and that birds must have descended from ancestors that had lost digits 1 and 5. Here we use highly conserved gene expression patterns in the developing limbs of mouse and chicken, including the chicken talpid 2 mutant and polydactylous Silkie breed (Silkie mutant), to aid the assessment of digital identity in the wing. Digit 1 in developing limbs does not express Hoxd12 , but expresses Hoxd13 . All other digits express both Hoxd12 and Hoxd13 . We found this signature expression pattern identifies the anteriormost digit of the wing as digit 1, in accordance with the hypothesis these digits are 1, 2 and 3, as in theropod dinosaurs. Our evidence contradicts the long‐standing argument that the development of the wing does not support the hypothesis that birds are living dinosaurs. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 304:000–000, 2004 . © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.