Turtles are the only beasts in the animal kingdom that don hard outer shells formed from
bone during embryonic development, and a scarcity of ancient turtle fossils has made it difficult to track the evolution of this unique trait.
However, malformation of skeletal
bones during embryogenesis also occurs in FOP patients and illustrates that the underlying genetic mutation occurs in a gene with functional importance in regulating chondro - osseous differentiation
during embryonic skeletal
development as well as in adult musculoskeletal tissues.