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Scientists rewind evolution to create chicken with ‘alligator-like’ snout
Scientists at the Harvard University have reversed 65 million years of evolutionary history by altering the DNA of a chicken egg so that the embryo developed an alligator-like snout instead of beaks.
Chickens and other birds are thought to have descended from dinosaurs through a series of genetic changes.
By tweaking the DNA of chickens in the early stages of their
development, scientists were able to rewind evolutionary progress and give the creatures snouts, which are thought to have been lost in the cretaceous period millions of years ago.
The breakthrough could pave the way for scientists using the same process to create species better able to adapt to Earth’s climate and also help eliminate birth defects in human children.
Evolutionary biologist Arhat Abzhanov developed the chickens with snouts by cutting a square hole in the shell of a chicken egg and dropping in a small gelatinous protein bead before watching the embryo develop.
He made the changes by analysing the ‘signalling molecules,’ which control the anatomical changes in birds and other animals.
The changes allowed separate molecules on the side of the face free to grow into snouts within 14 days.
“It looks exactly like a snout looks in an alligator [at this stage],” the Daily Mail quoted Abzhanov as telling New Scientist.
“Abzhanov”s ”snouted” chicken provides a striking demonstration of just how easy it can be to provoke major evolutionary changes,” said Craig Albertson, a developmental biologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Although ethical regulations prevent the eggs from being hatched, Abzhanov said he hopes to one day to complete his work by turning chickens into Maniraptora.
Maniraptora are small dinosaurs, which it is thought spawned thousands of species of birds that exist today.
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