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Editorial
. 2022 Nov 15:11:e84118.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.84118.

How vertebrates got their bite

Thomas F Schilling  1 , Pierre Le Pabic  2
Affiliations
Editorial

How vertebrates got their bite

Thomas F Schilling et al. Elife. .

Abstract

A newly discovered enhancer region may have allowed vertebrates to evolve the ability to open and close their jaws.

Keywords: cis-regulatory element; developmental biology; enhancer deletion; evolution; evolutionary biology; gnathostome; jaw joint; nkx3.2; zebrafish.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

TS, PL No competing interests declared

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. The role of the enhancer JRS1 in evolution and development.
Most species in the family of jawed vertebrates (Gnathostomata) evolved from jawless fish (Agnatha). Leyhr et al. have identified an enhancer sequence – which they call JRS1 (short for Jaw joint Regulatory Sequence; left) – that is present in the genomes of multiple species of Gnathostomata, but is absent from the two living Agnathan species (lampreys and hagfish). This genetic sequence (red hexagon) drives expression of the gene nkx3.2 (blue arrow) in the jaw joint (black arrow) of zebrafish Danio rerio embryos (top right). Deleting JRS1 (black cross) eliminates nxk3.2 expression, leading to jaw joint fusion and the mouth no longer being able to open and close (bottom right). Images of Gnathostomata and Agnatha are based on drawings by Goodrich, 1930.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

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