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Model Organisms Are Not Static
A research study reveals that some vertebrate genomes mutate 40-times faster than others.
In 2023, for example, ecologists at the University of Copenhagen showed that the number of mutations arising in each generation differs by up to 40 times between 68 species of vertebrate (backbone-bearing) animals, including birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles. Common model vertebrates excluded from the study include the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, and the zebrafish, Danio rerio — both of which are linchpins of embryology research. As mutations quietly rework the genomes of our most trusted model species, scientists face a clear choice: Confront the variability head-on or risk compounding the reproducibility crisis with every passing generation.
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