Genes linked to feather development predate dinosaurs

feathered dinosaur

Dinosaurs may not have been the first to sport feathers, a comparative genetic analysis suggests.

FunkMonk/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

A deep dive into the genetic code of chickens, crocodiles, turtles, fish and other creatures suggests that some of the genes needed to make feathers may have existed more than 100 million years before dinosaurs sported hints of the fluffy plumage. These genes may at first have had less to do with feather origins, and instead helped animals transition to land, researchers report November 18 in Molecular Biology and Evolution. The team also suggests that an ancestor of dinosaurs, crocodiles and birds may have worn some type of precursory plumage.

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

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