"Surprising Discovery: Unlikely Animal Reveals Evolutionary Origins of Hair"
Research on the tropical clawed frog suggests that the origins of mammalian hair can be traced back to a common ancestor of frogs and mammals, around 375 million years ago. The study found that frogs share genes involved in the production of keratin-like molecules, similar to those responsible for hair and nails in mammals. The regulatory gene Hoxc13, crucial for hair development, was present in the last common ancestor of all jawed vertebrates, indicating its significant role in evolution. The findings suggest that the original function of these molecules in frogs' toe tips was conserved and later modified for the development of hair in mammals, contributing to the evolution of tissue regeneration in adult organisms.