Similar proteins protect the skin of humans and turtles, new research shows.

In a genome comparison by a working group of the University Department of Dermatology at MedUni Vienna, discovered that genes for important skin proteins arose in a common ancestor shared by humans and turtles 310 million years ago. 

The aim of the turtle shell is to defend and it clearly distinguishes turtles and tortoises from other reptiles. In the study, the working group investigated the genes responsible for the skin layers of the shell of the European terrapin and a North American species of turtle, in order to compare them with the genes of human skin.

The study findings suggest that a hard shell was formed as the result of mutations in a group of genes known as the Epidermal Differentiation Complex (EDC).


What is remarkable is that the basic organisation of the EDC genes is similar in humans and turtles.


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