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.

Proteins that Create the Body's Blueprint

Recently, researches have uncovered what they call "gene architects" that create the blueprints for developing embryos. According to the article in Science Daily, the two proteins MOZ and BMI1 are responsible for normal embryonic development. The researchers described developing embryos as a "cluster of cells" needing to be divided and these two proteins organize these clusters segment by segment. The MOZ protein activates the developing genes while the BMI1 protein is responsible for making sure these proteins do not activate too early or too late. The research found that if the genes activated too early, the developing embryo was negatively impacte, greatly.

I found this article to be very interesting as it uncovers more about embryonic development. It is well known that Hox genes are a major part of embryonic development -- however, this research helps to uncover more about what effects Hox gene expression. A decreased amount of MOZ or BMI1 proteins could significantly alter the Hox gene expression and have severe implications on the developing embryo.

Additional Link