Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Evolutionary developmental biology

Use it or lose it

Nature volume 511, pages 34–35 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

A comparison of the development of adapted limbs in mammals uncovers multiple avenues to digit loss and highlights that early patterning events are not untouchable by evolutionary tinkering. See Articles p.41 & p.46

Limb modifications are fundamental to tetrapod evolution. Adaptive digit loss enables specialized functions such as running or flight, and has repeatedly evolved in parallel. But the developmental mechanisms underlying deviation from the five-digit ground state are unclear, partly owing to the hurdles involved in analysing embryos from animals that are not typically studied in the laboratory. Two papers published in this issue, from Cooper et al.1 (page 41) and Lopez-Rios et al.2 (page 46), illuminate developmental mechanisms that result in digit reduction in hoofed mammals and in rodents, and reveal surprising plasticity in the pathways that lead to evolutionary convergence. Together, these studies show that similar developmental changes may be shared by distantly related groups, but also that fundamentally different mechanisms can be used in closely related taxa to yield similar digit-loss outcomes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Evolution of digit loss.

References

  1. Cooper, K. L. et al. Nature 511, 41–45 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lopez-Rios, J. et al. Nature 511, 46–51 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Butterfield, N. C., McGlinn, E. & Wicking, C. Curr. Top. Dev. Biol. 90, 319–341 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhulyn, O. et al. Dev. Cell 29, 241–249 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sanz-Ezquerro, J. J. & Tickle, C. Curr. Biol. 13, 1830–1836 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Zuzarte-Luis, V. & Hurle, J. M. Semin. Cell Dev. Biol. 16, 261–269 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. de Bakker, M. A. et al. Nature 500, 445–448 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Cretekos, C. J. et al. Genes Dev. 22, 141–151 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Chan, Y. F. et al. Science 327, 302–305 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Shapiro, M. D., Hanken, J. & Rosenthal, N. J. Exp. Zool. B 297, 48–56 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhu, J. et al. Dev. Cell 14, 624–632 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Sears, K. E. et al. Evol. Dev. 13, 533–541 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bau-lin Huang and Susan Mackem are in the Cancer and Developmental Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland 21702, USA.,

    Bau-lin Huang & Susan Mackem

Authors
  1. Bau-lin Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Susan Mackem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Mackem.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Huang, Bl., Mackem, S. Use it or lose it. Nature 511, 34–35 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13509

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13509

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing