Biological Sciences Seminar - Zachary Lewis, PhD, Yale University will present "Lung loss in salamanders".
Lungs were once thought to be a universal feature of tetrapods and completely essential to life on land. This view changed in the late 19th century with the discovery of several adult salamanders without lungs. These species had descended from ancestors with lungs, suggesting that an evolutionary loss of lungs had occurred. I discuss the developmental basis for lung loss in salamanders and demonstrate that gene regulatory evolution results in lung loss. I demonstrate that lungless salamanders produce pulmonary surfactant in their skin, which may help lungless salamanders compensate for the loss of pulmonary respiration.
Date: Friday, February 15, 2019
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Science B 133