The Key to Immortality...Jellyfish!!!

    Turritopsis dohrnii, also known as The Immortal Jellyfish, is exactly the magical creature it sounds like. This little jelly is often found in temperate and tropical water such as the Mediterranean Sea. Like many other animals it has developed specialized survival techniques, in this case, immortality. When threatened, The Immortal Jellyfish is capable of reverting into its polyp form (literally reversing its age/physical development).  To be clear, there are other jellyfish with similar abilities. Multiple jellyfish species are capable of "rewinding" themselves. The Immortal Jellyfish, however, is the only one capable of doing so repeatedly and after entering the medusae phase of development.

    In Comparative Genomics of Mortal and Immortal Cnidarians Unveils Novel Keys Behind Rejuvenation, a research team attempts to uncover what specific genes give The Immortal Jellyfish its rejuvenation ability. This was done by comparing the Immortal Jellyfish's genome to Turritopsis rubra, its non-immortal cousin. Overall, their finding suggest that gene amplification, replication efficiency, DNA repair, and telomere activity are primary differences and potential contributors to increasing rejuvenation abilities. With further study, this research has the potential change the way we think of human aging. Maybe one day in the future the information we learn from The Immortal Jellyfish can be used to extend human life!

Immortalized Avian cells to save Endangered Species

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181116083200.htm
https://www.biocat.com/cell-biology/cell-immortalization

Species are going endangered much more often now due to the influences of human forces. This is one of the Avian species that are endangered, the Okinawa Rail native to northern Japan. In an effort to save the endangered birds, a group of scientists have tried to culture the cells. However, the cells are very unstable in a culture due to the stressors and that they degrade with age or known as "senescence". They have tried to immortalize the cells by introducing to it the simian virus and the human papillomavirus but that failed. Instead, the team decided with a more unorthodox and less refined way of immortalizing the cells, basically, they were taking a risk. They had to simultaneously introduce several mutagenic factors called the 4KDT method. Although this method cannot mass produce the immortal cells, it is a start to where the researchers need to begin. With immortalizing these cells, researchers hope to obtain valuable information of the innings of the avian species to try and save them from extinction.

Immortality...with the help of flies

Swedish scientists have come one step closer to solving the question of immortality. Using the fruit fly family Drosophila scientists were able to extend the life spans of these flies by 50-60%. In life different stressors cause random errors to occur within cells. These stressors vary in timing and intensity. To maintain tissue health scientists needed to remove damaged cells and keep less affected cells.

   Researchers studied the genes inside fly organs to search for genes within the healthy organs that were less active than the same gene(s) in unhealthy organs. This lead to the discovery of the ahuizotl gene in the flies. Ahuizotl is a gene in the flies that, “selectively target less healthy or less fit cells to protect the integrity and health of the organs like the brain or the gut.” Normally there are only two of these genes in each cell, however by adding a third flies appeared healthier longer.

   Scientists have only observed the life extension in these organisms that have very short lives. There is no follow-up data regarding the state of the internal organs in the flies once the flies died. I would be curious to know if the addition of a third ahuizotl gene would cause the ahuizotl to preemptively act and destroy cells that were still viable, regardless if they were slightly damaged. This may result in the body not being able to replace cells as fast as the ahuizotl can destroy them. In animals with shorter life spans than mammals these observations may not be as obvious so I believe a more detailed report from 

further testing is needed.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/288234.php

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150115134624.htm