November 08, 2017 at 06:05PMOctopus and squid evolution is officially weirder than we could have ever imagined
Just when we thought octopuses couldn’t be any weirder, it turns out that they and their cephalopod brethren evolve differently from nearly every other organism on the planet.
In a surprising twist, scientists have discovered that octopuses, along with some squid and cuttlefish species, routinely edit their RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequences to adapt to their environment.
This is weird because that’s really not how adaptations usually happen in multicellular animals. When an organism changes in some fundamental way, it typically starts with a genetic mutation - a change to the DNA.
The findings have been published in Cell.
Olga Visavi/Shutterstock
Really interesting short read for those interested in evolution.
stupid non-cephalopodes: evolve through a relatively stable updating of genetic matrices
grand cephalopod savants: biohacking into the nature mainframe and leaving eldritch comments in the engine’s source. what the fuck is a “stable release”
Wtf there’s like 2 versions of each protein then. I’m HERE for my cephalopod overlords they’ve apparently got this shit figured out
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Si usted ha entendido esta entrada, no dude en ponerse en contacto conmigo, y gustosamente se la volvere a explicar hasta que no la entienda.