Monday, April 17, 2017

A Genetic Oddity May Give Octopuses and Squids Their Smarts




Octopuses, cuttlefish and squid belong to the coleoid cephalopods family of invertebrates. Dr. Eisenberg, Dr. Rosenthal and Noa Liscovitch-Brauer, at Tel Aviv University, studied these intelligent species more in depth. They found out that they make their RNA useful unlike any other species. These coleoids were recoding their sites, where RNA editing results in a protein different from what was initially encoded by DNA. This discovery breaks the norm of enzymes used for recoding like ACGU, now these coleoids can add new riffs to its base genetic blueprint.

This is fascinating because it proves how brilliant these species are. Although it’s a slow process, its proves that the change is well worth it. It might be of great use to further study these coleoid and understand what features in the brain allow them to edit these sites.

1 comment:

  1. This is a very interesting adaptation of coleoids and could possibly be the reason for their unique behavior and abilities such as camouflage and being able to morph their bodies to fit in small spaces. I wonder if it's possible to determine how these animals carry out this process and potentially apply that to other organisms.

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