• Question: will some sections of a cat sharks DNA be similar to humans

    Asked by tdm246 to Catshark on 9 Nov 2017. This question was also asked by sgirl100.
    • Photo: Lesser-Spotted Catshark

      Lesser-Spotted Catshark answered on 9 Nov 2017:


      Good question! Humans and catsharks shared a common ancestor around 420-450 million years ago who, by definition, had exactly the same DNA. Since then the genomes of both lineages have changed and today our genomes are going to be different from catsharks. You are right in assuming some sections might be more similar than others though. Both humans and catsharks will have lost some genes since their common ancestor. We will also both have gained some new genes. And the genes that are kept in both groups will themselves have changed somewhat. Once we have the catshark genome sequenced we can make a map of which regions are more or less similar between catsharks and humans. I hope we will be able to do this and answer your question more fully!

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