Attempts to combat intolerance have often used the idea that we are all brothers under the skin. Findings in molecular biology are finding that not only are humans amazingly similar overall despite superficial differences, but that members of the animal kingdom share much more than we realized. The similarities are not just superficial, either, but genetic. It seems that a wide variety of animals share a suite of genes inherited from their common ancestor, an ancestor that lived some hundreds of millions of years ago.
One striking example is a master gene that exerts control over the
formation of eyes. Its presence is known in such disparate animals as flies, mice, and
flatworms. So similar are these copies that the mouse gene, introduced into weird
places in flies, triggered the embryonic development of eyes wherever situated. Would
you believe an eye on a leg? Such eyes weren't mouse eyes, though, but fruit fly
eyes. In essence, the gene, when turned on, says "Build an eye here". In a
vote for the brotherhood of all animals, the eyes have it!
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.