Octopus And Squid Evolution Is Officially Stranger Than We Could Have Ever Imagined

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 04:40:32 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.sciencealert.com/octopus-and-squid-evolution-is-weirder-than-we-could-have-ever-imagined>

"Just when we thought octopuses couldn't be any weirder, it turns out
that they and their cephalopod brethren evolve differently from nearly
every other organism on the planet.

In a surprising twist, in April 2017 scientists discovered that
octopuses, along with some squid and cuttlefish species, routinely edit
their RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequences to adapt to their environment.

This is weird because that's really not how adaptations usually happen
in multicellular animals. When an organism changes in some fundamental
way, it typically starts with a genetic mutation - a change to the DNA."

Via frater chaos and Richard Healy.

Share and enjoy,
                *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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