Thread:BastionMonk/@comment-3213993-20150629064705/@comment-3213993-20150910003059

I think this type of research could only be applied to archosaurs that we have very good, complete remains of. Like Tyrannosaurus, Apatosaurus, etc. I'm not sure whether it could be applied to Chinese or Archaeopteryx slab fossils since we would need a 3D skeleton to properly predict the gene expression order.

Once we find out about the genes involved in axial patterns in dinosaurs, related genes and their enhancer regions, and look at other archosaurs (and perhaps mammals and lizards), I think we could reasonably design enhancer sequences that lead to these phenotypes, as long as they all use the same genes. That could take a while, however.