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06-27-2014, 07:58 PM
That's shocking! Genes reveal electric eels evolved their supercharged muscles separately 200 million years ago
A study has sequenced the genome of the electric eel for the first time
Some fish gained the ability to produce electricity 200 million years ago
Eels have been found to have millions of 'batteries' to produce a charge
The researchers identified the genetic factors to deliver a jolt of electricity
Electric eels can produce shocks of 600 volts - enough to immobilise prey
By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN
PUBLISHED: 10:17 GMT, 27 June 2014 | UPDATED: 13:58 GMT, 27 June 2014
For the first time, the genome of the electric eel has been sequenced.
This discovery has revealed the secret of how fishes with electric organs have evolved six times in the history of life to produce electricity outside of their bodies.
The research sheds light on the genetic blueprint used to evolve these complex, novel organs.
ELECTRIC EELS AND THEIR SUPERCHARGED MUSCLES
All muscle and nerve cells have electrical potential and a simple contraction of a muscle will release a small amount of voltage.
Between 100 and 200 million years ago, some fish began to amplify that potential.
They evolved electrocytes from muscle cells, which were organised in sequence and capable of generating much higher voltages than those used to make muscles work.
The electric eel is a fish capable of producing electric shocks of up to 600 volts. Despite its name, it is not closely related to true eels.
It has a long, scale-free cylindrical body and a square moth at the end of its snout.
Two organs, known as the Hunter’s organ and the Sach’s organ, give the fish its ability to generate electric discharges.
When the eel spots prey, it opens the ion channels in these organs, reversing the polarity and creating an electric potential.
This generates an electric current like a battery, which it uses to immobilise small prey.
The shock, however, is not likely to be fatal to humans.
The study was co-led by Michigan State University (MSU), University of Wisconsin-Madison (U-W), University of Texas-Austin and the Systemix Institute.
ELECTRIC EELS AND THEIR SUPERCHARGED MUSCLES
All muscle and nerve cells have electrical potential and a simple contraction of a muscle will release a small amount of voltage.
Between 100 and 200 million years ago, some fish began to amplify that potential.
They evolved electrocytes from muscle cells, which were organised in sequence and capable of generating much higher voltages than those used to make muscles work.
The electric eel is a fish capable of producing electric shocks of up to 600 volts. Despite its name, it is not closely related to true eels.
It has a long, scale-free cylindrical body and a square moth at the end of its snout.
Two organs, known as the Hunter’s organ and the Sach’s organ, give the fish its ability to generate electric discharges.
When the eel spots prey, it opens the ion channels in these organs, reversing the polarity and creating an electric potential.
This generates an electric current like a battery, which it uses to immobilise small prey.
The shock, however, is not likely to be fatal to humans.
'It's truly exciting to find that complex structures like the electric organ, which evolved completely independently in six groups of fish, seem to share the same genetic toolkit,' said Jason Gallant, MSU zoologist and co-lead author of the paper.
'Biologists are starting to learn, using genomics, that evolution makes similar structures from the same starting materials, even if the organisms aren't even that closely related.'
Worldwide, there are hundreds of species of electric fish, in six broad lineages.
Their diversity is so great that Darwin himself cited electric fishes as critical examples of convergent evolution, where unrelated animals independently evolve similar traits to adapt to a particular environment, or ecological niche.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2671986/Thats-shocking-Genes-reveal-electric-eels-evolved-supercharged-muscles-separately-200-million-years-ago.html#ixzz35s5w5E4r
A study has sequenced the genome of the electric eel for the first time
Some fish gained the ability to produce electricity 200 million years ago
Eels have been found to have millions of 'batteries' to produce a charge
The researchers identified the genetic factors to deliver a jolt of electricity
Electric eels can produce shocks of 600 volts - enough to immobilise prey
By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN
PUBLISHED: 10:17 GMT, 27 June 2014 | UPDATED: 13:58 GMT, 27 June 2014
For the first time, the genome of the electric eel has been sequenced.
This discovery has revealed the secret of how fishes with electric organs have evolved six times in the history of life to produce electricity outside of their bodies.
The research sheds light on the genetic blueprint used to evolve these complex, novel organs.
ELECTRIC EELS AND THEIR SUPERCHARGED MUSCLES
All muscle and nerve cells have electrical potential and a simple contraction of a muscle will release a small amount of voltage.
Between 100 and 200 million years ago, some fish began to amplify that potential.
They evolved electrocytes from muscle cells, which were organised in sequence and capable of generating much higher voltages than those used to make muscles work.
The electric eel is a fish capable of producing electric shocks of up to 600 volts. Despite its name, it is not closely related to true eels.
It has a long, scale-free cylindrical body and a square moth at the end of its snout.
Two organs, known as the Hunter’s organ and the Sach’s organ, give the fish its ability to generate electric discharges.
When the eel spots prey, it opens the ion channels in these organs, reversing the polarity and creating an electric potential.
This generates an electric current like a battery, which it uses to immobilise small prey.
The shock, however, is not likely to be fatal to humans.
The study was co-led by Michigan State University (MSU), University of Wisconsin-Madison (U-W), University of Texas-Austin and the Systemix Institute.
ELECTRIC EELS AND THEIR SUPERCHARGED MUSCLES
All muscle and nerve cells have electrical potential and a simple contraction of a muscle will release a small amount of voltage.
Between 100 and 200 million years ago, some fish began to amplify that potential.
They evolved electrocytes from muscle cells, which were organised in sequence and capable of generating much higher voltages than those used to make muscles work.
The electric eel is a fish capable of producing electric shocks of up to 600 volts. Despite its name, it is not closely related to true eels.
It has a long, scale-free cylindrical body and a square moth at the end of its snout.
Two organs, known as the Hunter’s organ and the Sach’s organ, give the fish its ability to generate electric discharges.
When the eel spots prey, it opens the ion channels in these organs, reversing the polarity and creating an electric potential.
This generates an electric current like a battery, which it uses to immobilise small prey.
The shock, however, is not likely to be fatal to humans.
'It's truly exciting to find that complex structures like the electric organ, which evolved completely independently in six groups of fish, seem to share the same genetic toolkit,' said Jason Gallant, MSU zoologist and co-lead author of the paper.
'Biologists are starting to learn, using genomics, that evolution makes similar structures from the same starting materials, even if the organisms aren't even that closely related.'
Worldwide, there are hundreds of species of electric fish, in six broad lineages.
Their diversity is so great that Darwin himself cited electric fishes as critical examples of convergent evolution, where unrelated animals independently evolve similar traits to adapt to a particular environment, or ecological niche.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2671986/Thats-shocking-Genes-reveal-electric-eels-evolved-supercharged-muscles-separately-200-million-years-ago.html#ixzz35s5w5E4r