Monday, March 15, 2021

How Squids are able to change their Genetic Material

In an article from Science News, it has been discovered that longfin inshore squids, scientifically known as Doryteuthis pealeii can change their genetic material. This newfound ability of theirs can help them create specialized proteins much more quickly. The squid is able to do this from the outside boundaries of a cell within their nucleus which is where any modifications take place. The changing of the genetic material is by changing the strings of RNA outside the nerve cell's nucleus. 

The ability of the squid to make these changes occurs within the cytoplasm is what makes it possible for them to make any adjustments to the mRNA. In doing so, they are able to produce proteins that "are tailored to meet a cell's needs and hone crucial cell processes". Joshua Rosenthal a biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusettes, stated that if it is possible for researchers to learn and discover more about these genetic edits, they would be able to develop therapeutics for health conditions such as chronic pain by genetically editing cells that create these pain signals. An article from Science Friday also goes into detail as how to researchers are going about in studying these changes and how the squid is able to make the genetic edits.

It is very interesting to know that there are organisms that are able to change their genetic makeup. All these new findings, I believe will be great because they can further help researchers not only to understand how these organisms are able to do what they do but to also help people in the process. 

1 comment:

  1. I think its crazy that some organisms can completely change their genetic makeup. I hope that more researchers look into these genetic edits and maybe even find more organisms that are able to do it. Before reading this, I never even knew that some squids were capable of altering anything genetically.

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