Snaking Along

Mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds look extremely diverse, yet all possess a common body plan, a product of their shared evolutionary history. This basic shape, a skeleton composed of a head, neck, trunk and tail, is slightly modified in each lineage to produce the myriad of shapes found in nature; in humans, key changes involved losing the tail and re-aligning the limbs for bipedal posture. Of all vertebrates, snakes are especially peculiar, lacking limbs and displaying an extraordinarily extended trunk, the mid-section of the body. Researchers have only recently discovered how this long, sinuous shape arises: rearrangements in the snake genome mean that a key gene in skeletal development, Oct4, remains active for longer in developing snake embryos, like the one pictured, stimulating growth of the spine. Harnessing the effects of Oct4 in humans could open up new possibilities for regenerative therapies, encouraging the spinal cord to re-grow after injury.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

Website

• Image by Francisca Leal, University of Florida
• Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal
• Image copyright held by the photographer
• Research published in Developmental Cell, August 2016