echemi logo
Product
  • Product
  • Supplier
  • Inquiry
    Home > Biochemistry News > Biotechnology News > Why do apes have no tails?

    Why do apes have no tails?

    • Last Update: 2021-09-28
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
    Search more information of high quality chemicals, good prices and reliable suppliers, visit www.echemi.com

    The existence of transposable factors may explain how humans and our close relatives of great apes lost their tails 25 million years ago


    The mutation was discovered by Xia Bo, a graduate student at New York University's Langone School of Medicine.


    However, it was not until Xia and colleagues compared the TBXT sequence of the tailless apes with the TBXT sequences of other tailed primates that this gene was clearly linked to the lack of tails in apes


    Hopi Hoekstra, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, said: "I wouldn't suddenly realize that this is an obvious mutation that needs to be tested


    According to a report in "Science" magazine, Alu appears to be working in conjunction with another Alu that has previously added the gene


    Both humans and apes can produce longer and shorter transcripts, but mice produce only longer transcripts


    Although this discovery reveals how apes lose their tails, why they lose their tails is another question entirely


    In addition, the research team found that many of the mice with genetically altered TBXT had neural tube problems, similar to the type of birth defects that caused spina bifida or anencephaly, although Hoekstra pointed out that it is not clear what the mice and humans are.


    "Obviously, we paid the price for losing the tail, and we can still feel the echo," said Masaru Yanai, the lead author of the study and a geneticist at New York University Langone’s health developmental geneticist.


    This article is an English version of an article which is originally in the Chinese language on echemi.com and is provided for information purposes only. This website makes no representation or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness ownership or reliability of the article or any translations thereof. If you have any concerns or complaints relating to the article, please send an email, providing a detailed description of the concern or complaint, to service@echemi.com. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days. Once verified, infringing content will be removed immediately.

    Contact Us

    The source of this page with content of products and services is from Internet, which doesn't represent ECHEMI's opinion. If you have any queries, please write to service@echemi.com. It will be replied within 5 days.

    Moreover, if you find any instances of plagiarism from the page, please send email to service@echemi.com with relevant evidence.