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Researchers, in a new study, report that they have identified the regulatory molecules involved in the genetic and developmental pathways that electric fish use to convert a simple muscle into an organ capable of generating a potent electrical field. 

The organ can deliver a jolt several times more powerful than standard household current. 

"These fish have converted a muscle to an electric organ," explained Michael Sussman, a professor of biochemistry and director of the UW-Madison Biotechnology Center, who first undertook the exploration of the electric organ almost a decade ago, in the press release. 

The study supports the idea that the six electric fish lineages, all of which evolved independently, use essentially the same genes and developmental and cellular pathways to make an electric organ. This organ is needed for defense, predation, navigation and communication. 

"What is amazing is that the electric organ arose independently six times in the course of evolutionary history," said Lindsay Traeger, a UW-Madison graduate student in genetics and a co-lead author of the new report along with Jason Gallant, an assistant professor of zoology at Michigan State University.

"The surprising result of our study is that electric fish seem to use the same 'genetic toolbox' to build their electric organ," Gallant added. 

The study has been published in Science.