A study I discovered how the evolutionary process was in the genes of the whales and else cetaceans that they reach gigantic sizes.
According to a report published in the journal scientific reportsCetaceans are aquatic mammals that evolved from “small terrestrial ancestors” about 50 million years ago. Thus, through various morphological and physiological transformations in the aquatic environment, they began to grow rapidly by losing their body hair, hind legs, and taste and smell system.
Researchers from the University of Campinas, Brazil, managed to reveal that its large size is due to the combination of four genes: GHSR, IGFBP7, NCAPG and PLAG1, which are characteristic of promoting large body sizes.
the study of whales
The research relied on carrying out an evolutionary molecular analysis of nine candidate genes, GHSR, IGF2, IGFBP2, IGFBP7 and EGF, of the growth hormone axis and four associated with increased body size: NCAPG, LCORL, PLAG1 and ZFAT.
All of these are associated with increased body size in animals such as cows and sheep. Then, the genes of 19 species of whales, which have a body length of 10 meters, were evaluated. However, the blue whale can measure up to 25 meters.
The large body size brings with it a great risk, which is the possibility of developing some type of cancer, but one of the genes that it found within the DNA of the investigated cetaceans works as a suppressor of various types of cancer. For this very reason, the genes as a whole are the cause of the large size and counteract the possibility of developing a serious disease.
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GHSR, IGFBP7, NCAPG and PLAG1 genes, combined with the availability of aquatic space, thermoregulation, and feeding ecology, led cetaceans to grow at gigantic size.
In this sense, the study concluded: “Genes that act on body growth and control the negative aspects mentioned above through cell control, cell division and tumor suppression could be targets of natural selection, allowing these animals to become giant, live longer and will have a large body mass”.
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