Re: Fixing Feathers

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/28/99 12:31:44 PM EST, TomHopp@aol.com writes:

<< Not so fast. Fish scales contain keratin don't they? Most every dermal 
 structure does. It seems to me that protein, calcium and phosphate get 
around 
 in the body quite generally, and different structures use them as needed. My 
 impression is that any creature with teeth will turn out to have a 
homologous 
 structure to scales and to feathers, if you look phylogenetically far enough 
 back. Clear proof of this will come when genome workers spot the common 
 ancestry among the regulatory genes for the assembly of these structures -- 
 give it about ten years, then proof should be in hand, one way or the other.
 -- Tom Hopp >>

It's not the keratin; it's the >composition< of the keratin that's different 
between scales and feathers.