活化石腔棘魚有動物和魚類兩種遺傳基因

Recently the Yomiuri News reported the following:
　「生きた化石」として知られるシーラカンスの全遺伝情報（ゲノム）の解読に、東工大と東大、国立遺伝学研究所の共同研究グループが成功した。
　シーラカンスのゲノムの量は通常の魚よりはるかに多く、魚類と陸上動物の両方の遺伝子を持っていた。魚類が陸上へ進出した進化の謎を解く手がかりとして注目される。
　研究グループは、アフリカのタンザニアで捕獲された稚魚のゲノムを解析した。その結果、ゲノムを構成する「塩基対」の数は２７億あった。マグロやメダカなど平均的な魚類の約３倍あり、人（約３０億塩基対）を含めた哺乳(ほにゅう)類とほぼ同じであることが判明した。また、個体同士の情報伝達に関係する遺伝子群を調べたところ、魚類と陸上動物に特有の遺伝子を両方とも持っていることがわかった。

(試譯文)
The joint research group of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the University of Tokyo, together with the National Institute of Genetics succeeded in decoding all the genetic codes (genome) of the coelacanth which was known as a "living fossil."
The amount of genome of coelacanth was more than the ordinary fish, and it had a gene of both fish and land animal. Fish attract attention as a key to solve the mystery in the evolution of marching out from water to land.
The research consortium analyzed the genome of the fish fry caught in Tanzania of Africa. The result was that the number of the "base pairs" was 2,700 million and it constituted a genom of about 3 times that of the average fish such as tuna and killifish. It became clear that it had almost the same number as the mammals including human (about 3 billion base pairs).Moreover, in the investigation in the gene cluster related to the communication of information of the individual, it turned out that it had both the gene peculiar to fish and to land animal.

Such a finding would help us know more about the evolution of land animals.