Chicken or the leg? Reverse genetic engineering sees bird grow dinosaur feet

Scientists in Chile have created a chicken embryo that developed dinosaur-like feet after genetic manipulation, highlighting the evolutionary link between theropod dinosaurs and birds. The research – published in the journal Evolution – shows that “by inhibiting early maturation of a leg of the chicken embryo, the leg reverts to the shape that dinosaurs’ legs had”, said Alexander Vargas, one of the six researchers at the University of Chile. “The result is a chicken embryo with dinosaur legs,” Vargas told AFP on Tuesday, explaining what amounts to reverse evolution.

The research should help shed new light not just on the links between birds and dinosaurs, but on the genetic changes involved in the evolution.

Researcher Alexander Vargas

Theropods, a group of dinosaurs, started as carnivores but evolved to eat plants and insects. Birds evolved from small theropods in the Jurassic period more than 145 million years ago. In their study, scientists manipulated the Indian Hedgehog Homolog gene common to all animals, including man. They were trying to pinpoint when birds had a dinosaur-like fibula bone. When the researchers delayed early development, the bone took on the tubular shape it once had in dinosaurs. Previous experiments on chickens have already been conducted to bring out their dormant dinosaur traits. In 2015, a research team from the U.S. was able to make embryos grow “dinosaur-like beaks.”

chicken dinosaur