Octopuses have discovered an extraordinary method to safeguard their delicate nervous system from extreme temperature changes in their environment. As environmental conditions vary, they possess the ability to swiftly modify essential proteins in their nerve cells, ensuring the uninterrupted functionality of crucial neurological processes even in the face of drastic temperature drops.
Octopus' Unconventional Superpower: RNA Editing for Environmental Adaptation in Cephalopods
How Does an Octopus Regulate the Temperature in Their Bodies?
Researchers have discovered that squids, cuttlefish, and octopuses have the ability to modify RNA even after it has left the nucleus of their cells, Science Alert reported. This unique editing process allows for rapid physiological responses to changing environmental conditions.
Scientists initially speculated that this adaptation could explain the remarkable intelligence of cephalopods, but the exact reason for this RNA editing remained a mystery.
To investigate the purpose of RNA editing in cephalopods, a team led by marine biologist Matthew Birk conducted experiments using California two-spot octopuses.
They acclimated the octopuses to warm or cold water and compared their genetic information to a database genome. Physicist Eli Eisenberg of Tel-Aviv University, the co-senior author of the paper, said in a news release that over 20,000 individual sites on the RNA underwent temperature-sensitive editing, particularly in neural proteins that are sensitive to cold temperatures. Structural proteins critical for the octopus's nervous system function were also found to be impacted by these changes.
To validate their findings, the team collected wild octopuses from different seasons and checked their genomes. The patterns of RNA editing observed in these octopuses indicated that they were optimizing their function based on the current temperature conditions.
Additionally, the researchers conducted experiments to assess the speed of these changes. They adjusted the temperature of an octopus tank incrementally and found significant changes in RNA editing within a day, with the octopuses reaching new steady-state levels after four days.
These findings suggest that cephalopod RNA editing serves as a rapid response to potentially dangerous conditions for the animals. It is believed that other environmental factors, such as low oxygen, pollution, and changing social conditions, may also trigger similar responses. This ability to adapt quickly through RNA editing highlights the remarkable adaptability of cephalopods in navigating their ever-changing surroundings.
RNA Editing Might Be Happening in All Cephalopods
The researchers have a hypothesis that RNA editing is a commonly employed strategy by octopuses and squids to ensure their survival in changing environments. They aim to delve deeper into understanding the mechanisms and purposes behind this RNA editing process.
According to Science Daily, there are still uncertainties regarding the regulation of RNA editing in octopuses, and the reasons why editing occurs more frequently in response to cold temperatures remain unclear.
In their future investigations, the researchers plan to explore whether octopuses and other cephalopods utilize RNA recoding as a means to adapt to additional environmental factors, such as low oxygen levels or diverse social conditions.
The experiment was described in full in the study, titled "Temperature-Dependent Rna Editing in Octopus Extensively Recodes the Neural Proteome," which was published in the journal Cell.
RELATED ARTICLE: Scientists Found Similarities Between Octopus and Human Brains; What Could This Be?
Check out more news and information on Octopus on Science Times.
