Elephant sharks – also known as Australian ghost sharks – shared a common ancestor with humans about 450 million years ago, and have changed very little since. This week, the elephant shark genome was sequenced and found to evolve more slowly than any other known vertebrate. The data provides important insights into how modern traits like jaws, paired limbs and adaptive immune systems first evolved.
Original research article published in Nature on January 8, 2014
Names and affiliations of selected authors:
Byrappa Venkatesh (Lead Author), Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Biopolis, Singapore
Manuel Irimia (Contributing Author), University of Toronto
