Hen's teeth with enamel cap: from dream to impossibility
2008
The Impossibility of Hen's Teeth with Enamel Cap
publication
Evidence: high
Author Information
Author(s): Jean-Yves Sire, Sidney C. Delgado, Marc Girondot
Primary Institution: Université Pierre & Marie Curie-Paris 6
Hypothesis
Can birds reactivate the odontogenic pathway to form functional teeth with enamel?
Conclusion
Birds will never be able to develop functional teeth with enamel because the necessary genes have been invalidated or lost.
Supporting Evidence
- The genes for enamel and dentin formation have been invalidated in chickens.
- Previous experiments showed that the odontogenic pathway can be induced in chickens, but not to the point of forming functional teeth.
- Four dental protein genes were found to be absent or non-functional in the chicken genome.
Takeaway
Scientists tried to see if chickens could grow teeth like crocodiles, but they found that the genes needed for making teeth are gone, so it's impossible.
Methodology
Bioinformatics was used to assess the presence of dental protein genes in the chicken genome.
Limitations
The study could not determine if tooth differentiation would occur due to the short duration of experiments.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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