Putting flesh on the bones of ancient fish

Putting flesh on the bones of ancient fish

June 13, 2013 — Swedish, Australian and French researchers present for the first time miraculously preserved musculature of 380 million year old armoured fish discovered in north-west Australia. This research will help scientists to better understand how neck and abdominal muscles evolved during the transition from jawless to jawed vertebrates.

The scientific paper describing the discovery is published today in the journal Science.

The team of scientists who studied the fossilised fish was jointly directed by Prof. Kate Trinajstic, Curtin University, Perth, Australia and Prof. Per Erik Ahlberg of Uppsala University Sweden. The team also included scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France; the Western Australian Museum, Perth; Flinders University, Adelaide; the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University, Canberra; the Research School of Physics and Engineering at the Australian National University; and the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Australia.

The word "fossil" naturally conjures up a vision of rattling skeletons. Bones and teeth fossilise far more easily than soft tissues and are usually the only traces of the animal that remain. This makes the rare fossils of soft tissues all the more valuable as windows to the biology of extinct organisms. Such tissues almost never fossilise and scientists usually have to extrapolate skin coverings and musculature from knowledge of modern organisms and from the fossilised skeletons.

The Gogo Formation, a sedimentary rock formation in north-western Australia, has long been famous for yielding exquisitely preserved fossil fish. Among other things it contains placoderms, an extinct group that includes some of the earliest jawed fish.

A few years ago, an Australian research team work led by Prof. Trinajstic made the remarkable discovery that these fossils also contained soft tissues including nerve and muscle cells. Now they have collaborated with the research group of Professor Per Ahlberg, Uppsala University, and with the European Synchrotron (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, to document and reconstruct the musculature of the placoderms. "High contrast X-ray images were produced thanks to a powerful beam and a protocol developed for fossil imaging at the ESRF. This is unique in the world and has enabled us to "reconstruct" some fossilised muscles and document the muscles of neck and abdomen in these early jawed fish, without damaging or affecting the fossilised remains," says Sophie Sanchez, one of the authors, from the ESRF and Uppsala University.

These early vertebrates prove to have a well-developed neck musculature as well as powerful abdominal muscles -- not unlike some human equivalents displayed on the beaches of the world every summer. Living fish, by contrast, usually have a rather simple body musculature without such specialisations.

"This shows that vertebrates developed a sophisticated musculature much earlier than we had thought" says Per Ahlberg, co-author of the project. "It also cautions against thinking that we can interpret fossil organisms simply by metaphorically draping their skeletons in the soft tissues of living relatives."

Welcome to SUV System Ltd!

SUV System Ltd is ISO 90012008 Certified electronics distributor with 10 years of experiences.

We have built up long term business relationship with about many companies which are stockers and authorized agents. we have a steady and reliable supply to meet customer's demands to the greatest extent .Confidently, we are able to lower your cost and support your business with our years of professional service.

SUV System Ltd is Electronic Components Distributor Supplies,Find Quality Electronic Components Supplies Products IC(Integrated Circuits),Connectors,Capacitor,Resistors,Diodes,Transistors,LED at Suvsystem.com. Sourcing Other Energy, Environment, Excess Inventory Products from Manufacturers and Suppliers at Suvsystem.com

Electronic Components distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com

Connectors Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Connectors-1.html

IC Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/IC(Integrated-Circuits)-1.html

LED Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/LED-1.html

Capacitor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Capacitor-1.html

Transistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Transistors-1.html

Resistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Resistors-1.html

Diode Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Diodes-1.html

SUV System Ltd insists on the managing faith ofsincereness,speciality,foresight, win-win,so we build up stable-relationship customers located all over the world, including the States, Europe, Argentina, UAE, Malaysia, Australia,and India etc

we are focus on the following fields,and hope we can help you.

CE3291-12.000 CE3291-106.250 CE3291-100.000 CE3291-10.000 CE3291-1.544 CE3290-80.000 CE3290-8.000 CE3290-75.000 CE3290-7.372800 CE3292-20.480 CE3292-20.000 CE3292-2.048 CE3292-19.440 CE3292-18.432 CE3292-16.384 CE3292-16.0000 CE3292-15.360 CE3292-14.318180 CE3292-12.352 CE3292-12.288 CE3292-12.000 CE3292-106.250 CE3292-100.000 CE3292-10.000 CE3292-1.544 CE3291-80.000 CE3291-8.000 CE3291-75.000 CE3291-7.372800 CE3291-66.666600 CE3291-64.000 CE3291-60.000 CE3291-6.176 CE3291-51.840 CE3291-50.000 CE3291-49.152 CE3291-45.000 CE3291-44.736 CE3291-40.000 CE3390-12.288
http://www.suvsystem.com/a/2669.aspx