Our forebears, the ape and human progenitors, and monkeys underwent an evolutionary break approximately 25 million years
Fill in some text
that led to the loss of tails in our lineage. But up until today, the genetic mutation that caused this profound change has remained elusive.
The elimination of ancestral tails has been connected to a distinct DNA mutation, according to a recent study published in Nature.
The TBXT gene, which regulates tail length in animals with tails, is home to this mutation.
Bo Xia, the study's senior author and a former graduate student at New York University who is currently a research investigator at the Broad Institute,
suffered a tailbone injury and developed an interest in the structure's evolutionary history that led to this amazing discovery.
Animal evolution is driven by genetic changes that occur over millions of years and can range from minor adjustments to more complex modifications.
This groundbreaking revelation not only deepens our understanding of evolutionary biology but also opens new avenues for genomic analysis, as alternative splicing mechanisms may underlie various evolutionary changes in traits.