Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of the ray-finned
fish of the subclassActinopterygii - adjective Of or pertaining to these fish
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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In the research described above, the old hypothesis was that the HoxD expression pattern controlling development of tetrapod limbs was an evolutionary novelty, and the HoxD expression pattern controlling actinopterygian fins was conserved.
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The new model is that the tetrapod pattern is conserved and the actinopterygian pattern is novel.
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The paper, "An autopodial-like pattern of Hox expression in the fins of a basal actinopterygian fish," shows that the genetic and developmental toolkit that builds limbs with fingers and toes was around long before the acquisition of limbs, according to the scientists, and that this toolkit exists in some primitive form in a living primitive bony fish, the paddlefish.
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The paper, "An autopodial-like pattern of Hox expression in the fins of a basal actinopterygian fish," shows that the genetic and developmental toolkit that builds limbs with fingers and toes was around long before the acquisition of limbs, according to the scientists, and that this toolkit exists in some primitive form in a living primitive bony fish, the paddlefish.
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The HoxD expression pattern in the fins of most modern actinopterygian fish is the evolutionary novelty.
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The paired fins of actinopterygian fish and the limbs of tetrapods are homologous structures.
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It was known that the developing fins of modern actinopterygian fish lack a developmental hallmark of developing tetrapod limbs (late phase HoxD expression).
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So, if the tetrapod-like expression pattern of HoxD in Polyodon is consistent with front loading, then logically, the actinopterygian-like pattern of HoxA must be inconsistent with front loading, right?
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Since actinopterygian fins are morphologically more similar to the fins of the common ancestor, it was a reasonable hypothesis that the development of limbs was the evolutionary novelty and the development of fins was evolutionarily conserved.
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If one focuses on actinopterygian fins, then it looks more like a case for evolution of novel genetic mechanisms.
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