Unraveling Octopus Base Genome

Unraveling octopus base genome

The article that was picked is called the "Unraveling the Octopus's 2.8 billion-Base Genome." to summarize this article they mainly talk about how scientist are determining the genomic structure of a octopus. according to this article Octopoda has about 2.8 billion base pairs which is across thirty chromosomes. In my opinion many animals are fascinated and should be looked at but I decided to look deeper and find an animal that stick outs the most. Octopoda are important creatures but to fully understand them I feel like we need to look into the biology and the genome. Because the researchers that were working on this were able to show that all chromosomes reveal numerous structural changes that occur during evolution. This article talks about how the evolutionary history of the octopus genome spans a period of 44 million years ago.

Dalila Destanović explained that “Even among closely related species, we observed numerous structural changes of the chromosomes. This finding poses questions on genome dynamics throughout their evolutionary history and opens the door to investigate how this relates to their unique traits” (Dalila Destanović). In my opinion I believe this is true because different species have different chromosomes and depending on the species I feel like it's doing research on them can be complicated. Opening the door to evolutionary history can help figure out many    

In the photo above it shows the anatomy of the gene family.     

Reference:

Octopus. National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.). https://www.nwf.org/Educational Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Octopuses ( Photo) 

Arain, W. (2023, October 29). Decoding the octopus: A leap in understanding cephalopod intelligence. BNN Breaking. https://bnn.network/tech/decoding-the-octopus-a-leap-in-understanding-cephalopod-intelligence/ (Photo)

Neuroscience News. (2023, October 18). Unraveling the Octopus’s 2.8 billion-base genome. https://neurosciencenews.com/octopus-genetics-24962/#:~:text=Summary%3A%20Scientists%20have%20successfully%20determined,comparisons%20with%20other%20cephalopod%20species. 

How octopuses ‘taste’ things by touching

 

In this article from Science news, researchers have identified unique nerve cells in octopuses that allow them to taste with their arms. The cells detect the chemicals that are produced by many aquatic creatures and help the octopus distinguish rocks, food and even poisonous prey. All this research was done by a molecular biologist named Nicholas Bellono and hiss colleagues at Harvard University. 

The researchers also speculated that these new findings help look at the bigger picture regarding the evolutionary path of octopuses. The found that tow thirds of nerve cells are scattered throughout the octopuses arms which allows them to operate semi-independently. To learn more, Bellono and his colleagues looked at the arms of a California two-spot octopus and saw what appeared to be sensory cells with fine branched endings. These cells were then isolated to test how they respond and they turned out to be very similar to those that detect touch. The researched did another study to see how the receptors worked and inserted them into human and frog cells. They also confirmed that octopuses do use receptors to sense chemicals by touch and the researchers are already working on trying to identify other compounds that could be detected by these sensors.

I think that this is a great evolutionary find. Who knows what else octopuses can do that we are not aware of. Its crazy to think they these creatures use their arms for touch and for taste. I hope more studies are done to find out more information. I have attached another article that looks into the mind of an octopus. 

Links:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/octopus-taste-touch-arm-suckers

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-mind-of-an-octopus/

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.

How Clever are Octopuses?

In recent studies, researchers have discovered that octopuses are able to change the message sent from their DNA, instead of following it like most organisms. Scientist have suggested that because octopuses can alter their genetics, that its a reasonable thought for why they are so intelligent. Octopus are capable of solving complex puzzles and changing colors to communicate. The genetic change occurs in the protein synthesis- where RNA is coded into amino acids, and that is where octopuses do not follow the genetic instruction. RNA editing is known to affect the nervous system, which might be a necessity of these organisms lives in order to live.

I think the discovery of RNA editing in cephalopods changes the idea of importance of RNA editing. With this discovery, I think this gain a better understanding of genetic sequences, but also broadens the concept to learn more about these intelligent organisms and others.


Article
Original article

How gene editing is changing what a lab animal looks like

Model organisms that we use in labs to study biological aspects usually have very similar characteristics.  Some traits of model organisms are: they have short reproductive cycles, large brood or offspring, small in size, and some other characteristics depending on what exactly it  is that is being studied.  Throughout the early days of biology, model organisms were limited to animals like flies, mice, zebra fish and monkeys. Scientists would interbreed these organisms with relatives like brother and sister in order to decrease genetic variation and have more control over the experiment. However, with new gene editing technology, the requirements of being a model organism for experiments have dramatically changed.

Image displaying common model organisms

With the new CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system, scientists are able to target specific spots in a genome to be studied. This method can open the door for many other organisms to be studied in labs like squids or octopuses.  These organisms can be used to study motion and neural, which can be used in robotics and prosthetics.  Scientists can further examine camouflage systems in these creatures and determine if it is a genetic trait.  However, this goes against the traditional scientific culture of building upon work that has already been done by others. A whole new culture of scientific exploration of model organisms may be created if grants are given to study these methods.