A team of researchers identified two new genes that are important in fin development. They report in the journal Nature that the loss of these genes could have been an “important step” in the evolutionary transformation of fins into limbs.

Marie-Andree Akimenko, from the University of Ottawa in Canada,...and her colleagues began their study by looking at the development of zebrafish embryos. They discovered two genes that coded for proteins that were important in the structure of fins.

These proteins were components of the thread-like fibres known as “actinotrichia”. These are found in fish larvae and they eventually develop into the bony fin rays of mature fish.

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