When the octopus Inkwell escaped from the aquarium at the National Aquarium of New Zealand in April 2016, he had to squeeze through a 15 cm wide sewer pipe. But he still escaped into the Pacific Ocean! Together with it, the octopus grabbed the hearts of its fans, who glorified the animal that outwitted the aquarium on social networks.
The intelligence of octopuses is capable of more than escaping from an aquarium. They can open glass decanters and solve other complex mechanical problems. They are playing. Some are capable of body-distorting mimicry. All this suggests that cephalopods - invertebrates, many-legged creatures, including octopuses and cuttlefish - stand out among their mollusk congeners.
Cephalopods are unusual not only because they guess riddles. Squid, cuttlefish and octopus do not follow the usual rules of genetics, according to a new study. Their RNA is extensively rewritten, especially the encoding of proteins that are found in animal neurons.
And this is very strange. According to the central dogma of molecular biology, cells convert DNA sequences into RNA, which then create proteins.
Cephalopods are unusual not only because they guess riddles. Squid, cuttlefish and octopus do not follow the usual rules of genetics, according to a new study. Their RNA is extensively rewritten, especially the encoding of proteins that are found in animal neurons.
And this is very strange. According to the central dogma of molecular biology, cells convert DNA sequences into RNA, which then create proteins.
Octopuses are dominated by RNA transcoding, a type of alteration in which a single octopus gene can produce many different types of proteins from a single DNA.
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RNA changes have a significant impact on squid or octopus biology. Previously, scientists found that octopuses living in Antarctica used RNA alteration to keep their nerves energized in cold waters.
In a new report, scientists measured the rate of RNA transcoding in some cephalopod species. They found that squid, cuttlefish and octopus - the smartest cephalic species - changed RNA frequently, in almost one of two rewritten genes. Moreover, RNA editing has often been directed to genes associated with nervous system functions.
But there is one exception. A type of cephalopod called nautilus did not demonstrate high rates of RNA transcoding. But nautilus do not shine with intelligence. Perhaps the RNA transcoding is related to the mental abilities of animals?
Large-scale RNA editing is expensive. If a mutation occurs on a mutated site, the cells can no longer change it. It turns out that squid and octopus have lower DNA mutation rates than other organisms. In other words, while other animals adapt and evolve through changes in DNA, cephalopods prioritize RNA transcoding.
