Genetic Modification - Building a
dinosaur from a chicken - Jack
Horner 2011
dinosaur behaviour
Cared for young
Built nests
Evidence of colonial nesting and ‘site fidelity’ among ornithischian
dinosaurs
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v297/n5868/abs/297675a0.html
Nest and egg clutches of the dinosaur Troodon formosus and the evolution of avian reproductive
traits http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v385/n6613/abs/385247a0.html
Brought food to babies
Palaeontology: Parental care in an ornithischian dinosaur
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7005/abs/431145a.html
Social
Egg mountain in Montana
Lived in colonies
Traveled in herds
Morphology changes with ontogeny
Juveniles can recognize the adults and vice versa
1993
Dinosaur DNA rare in amber.
More likely to get Flora or
mosquito DNA . More likely to
get it from a dinosaur!
Grant from National Science
Foundation to attempt Tyrannosaurus
rex DNA extraction from thigh bone
with Dr Mary Schweitzer
Found heme but couldn't extract DNA
Avian dinosaurs v's non avian dinosaurs. Extinct = non avian dinosaurs, Avian are modern birds
Dr. Hans Larsson, McGill University
Genetic modification of chicken to make a
"chickenosaur" Reverse engineering Loss of tail,
formation of wings and gene switching off teeth thorough
bird embryogenesis
From dinosaurs to birds http://www.evodevojournal.com/content/5/1/25/abstract
Archaeoptrex has a primative hand, hand is now a wing
Embryonic pigeon looks ooks like archaeoptrex
Gene expression (turns on a fuses them together to create the wing)
Why?
Teach kids about Evolutionary and developmental biology
Technology, entertainment and design
Tooth development
Gene for teeth, Can turn the tooth gene on and produce teeth in chickens
Osr2 gene
Molecular patterning of the mammalian
dentition
http://www.gopubmed.org/osr2.html
Wnt pathway
Expression of Wnt signalling pathway genes during tooth development
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925477399000957
Hox-8
Expression patterns of the homeobox gene, Hox-8, in
the mouse embryo suggest a role in specifying tooth
initiation and shape.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1358591
Tail
Bird have rudimentry tail, embryo has large tail but it gene turns
on and it is reabsorbed
Atavism: Embryology, Development and Evolution
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/atavism-embryology-development-and-evolution-843
Behavioural
Avian Paternal Care Had Dinosaur Origin http://www.sciencemag.org/content/322/5909/1826.short
Phylogenetic reconstruction of parental–care systems in the ancestors of birds
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/357/1419/251.short
Morphology
Avian dinosaur embryos
Evolutionary biomodification tool
Selection
eg. Selective breeding in dogs
Transgenesis - take a favorable gene out
of one and incorporate into another
species genome
Example glofish / glow animals
Recombinant DNA Technology and Transgenic Animals
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/recombinant-dna-technology-and-transgenic-animals-34513w
atavism activation - gene expression
Switching on & off of
genes
Hell creek project
B- rex
Incomplete, Small and found under a
thousand cubic yards of rock
Died at the age of 16
Biomolecular Characterization and Protein Sequences of
the Campanian Hadrosaur B. canadensis
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5927/626
Female
meduallry tissue found around the bone
(calcium build up / storage when a bird is
pregnant