{"id":4484,"date":"2019-03-12T22:37:53","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T22:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/12\/a-genetic-oddity-may-give-octopuses-and-squids-their-smarts-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2019-03-12T22:37:53","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T22:37:53","slug":"a-genetic-oddity-may-give-octopuses-and-squids-their-smarts-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/12\/a-genetic-oddity-may-give-octopuses-and-squids-their-smarts-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"A Genetic Oddity May Give Octopuses and Squids Their Smarts – The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Coleoid cephalopods, a group encompassing octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, are the most intelligent invertebrates: Octopuses can <\/span>open jars<\/a>, squid <\/span>communicate<\/a> <\/span>with their own Morse code and cuttlefish start <\/span>learning<\/a> <\/span>to identify prey when they\u2019re just embryos.<\/p>\n

In fact, coleoids are the only \u201canimal lineage that has really achieved behavioral sophistication\u201d other than vertebrates, said <\/span>Joshua Rosenthal<\/a>, a senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. This sophistication could be related to a quirk in how their genes work, according to new research from Dr. Rosenthal and <\/span>Eli Eisenberg<\/a>, a biophysicist at Tel Aviv University.<\/p>\n

In the journal <\/span>Cell<\/a> <\/span>on Thursday, the scientists reported that octopuses, squid and cuttlefish make extensive use of RNA editing, a genetic process thought to have little functional significance in most other animals, to diversify proteins in their nervous system. And natural selection seems to have favored RNA editing in coleoids, even though it potentially slows the DNA-based evolution that typically helps organisms acquire beneficial adaptations over time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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He and Dr. Rosenthal found that RNA editing is enriched in coleoids\u2019 nervous tissues, so they suspect it contributes to these animals\u2019 behavioral complexity, possibly by allowing for dynamic control over proteins in response to different environmental conditions or tasks. Previously, Dr. Rosenthal <\/span>showed<\/a> <\/span>that RNA editing might help octopuses rapidly adapt to temperature changes.<\/p>\n

Other organisms use all sorts of <\/span>different<\/a> <\/span>methods<\/a> <\/span>to modify their RNA, but the possibility that coleoids use extensive RNA editing to flexibly manipulate their nervous system is \u201cextraordinary,\u201d said <\/span>Kazuko Nishikura<\/a>, a professor at the Wistar Institute, a nonprofit biomedical research institute in Philadelphia, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may learn a lot from squid and octopus brains,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/04\/06\/science\/octopus-squid-intelligence-rna-editing.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coleoid cephalopods, a group encompassing octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, are the most intelligent invertebrates: Octopuses can open jars, squid communicate with their own Morse code and cuttlefish start learning to identify prey when they\u2019re just embryos. In fact, coleoids are the only \u201canimal lineage that has really achieved behavioral sophistication\u201d other than vertebrates, said Joshua […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfIY-1ak","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}