Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Octopus Genome holds clues to uncanny intelligence

 
Octopuses possibly one of the most intelligent creature in the sea.  With their ability to shape-shift, camouflage, critically think, and analyze complicated tasks, the question remains, are Octopuses Alien?   The octopus’s genome is almost as large as a humans and contains 33,000 protein-coding genes compared to humans who only have fewer than 25,000. The octopus has 168 of the gene protocadherins which regulate the development of neurons in which 2/3 of this gene is distributed throughout the limbs of the creature.  This enables their tentacles to think on its own, even when their tentacles have been removed from their bodies. 
According to researchers they want to analyze and understand the genome of the octopus in order to give possible insight on how their cognitive skills have evolved.  By understanding this creature and its complicated genome, who know what could happen.  Maybe the octopus has genome sequence of regenerating their own limbs, and by understanding how it works, it could lead to us humans regenerating out own diseased or lost limbs 

5 comments:

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  2. Having just finished a course in invertebrate zoology, these guys were one of the most interesting subjects we covered. Aside from the similarly sized genome and protein coding gene count, they also have shockingly similar eyes to humans. But our eyes evolved seperately from mulluscan eyes, which makes this an incredible case of convergent evolution, like the wings of bats and the wings of birds

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  3. To me, the octopus is right up there with dolphins as some of the most intelligent creatures in the sea. Interesting article.

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  4. To me, the octopus is right up there with dolphins as some of the most intelligent creatures in the sea. Interesting article.

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  5. I've always been intrigued about the intellect of octopi (i even have a tattoo of an octopus on my shoulder) because they have capabilities so far-fetched compared to other sea creatures. It's crazy that their genome is still smaller than a human being's yet contain about a third more! It's interesting that majority of the gene that regulates the development of neurons in their tentacles, so its as if they have 8 more brains to think with. Maybe that's another reason why they're so damn smart

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