Bite of the Conodonts

Scientists have discovered an extinct marine vertebrate with the sharpest teeth ever known. The conodont species, known as Wurmiella excavata, evolved circa 500 million years ago during the Precambrian eon and went extinct 200 million years ago. The Wurmiella excavata is said to have lived longer on Earth than other vertebrates, and were the first creatures to evolve teeth even though they did not possess jaws. These conodonts had teeth with tips 2 micrometers wide, which is 5% as wide as a human hair.

Researchers have used X-rays to create models of eight food-processing structures from the Wurmiella excavata in an attempt to discover how the teeth functioned. They compared the teeth with bat molars of a similar size, and found that, unlike mammals that use muscular force to break down their food, the conodonts used minuscule forces that were a result of their teeth's sharpness and the way they gnawed. Though sharp teeth can cause problems such as breaking more easily, the conodonts succeeded where other vertebrates failed in that they were able to re-sharper and repair their teeth.

Mark Purnell, a paleontologist at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, explained that conodonts "were the first vertebrates to 'experiment with... complex food-processing teeth", having developed slicing and interlocking crushing teeth millions of years before any other creature. Because of the abundance of conodont teeth in marine sedimentary rocks, the teeth provide a chance to test whether or not different species of vertebrates independently developed their teeth.

I chose this article because I think it is very important that we understand how these things evolved and came about. To be able to isolate a species as having the first teeth of any species can help us understanding how and why teeth came about. Perhaps through further cloning, a part of their DNA could be identified as being responsible for repairing teeth or some other function that we may find valuable.