What octopus and human brains have in common

https://www.mdc-berlin.de/news/press/what-octopus-and-human-brains-have-common

by yamrzou • 4 years ago

82 27 4 years ago

mdc-berlin.de

dschuetz• 4 years ago

Yes, what do they have in common indeed. I didn't quite catch that from that article.

eganist• 4 years ago

For those lost, the article is largely expanding on just a single sentence:

octopuses possess a massively expanded repertoire of microRNAs (miRNAs) in their neural tissue – reflecting similar developments that occurred in vertebrates.

Better reading: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add9938

ghostpepper• 4 years ago

It seems like the crux of the discovery is the "expansion of repertoire" of miRNA, and the control group they're comparing to is vertebrates as a whole, and not specifically humans. According to some quick scanning on wikipedia, the importance of miRNA in neural tissues in mice has been shown by knocking out those genes.

I wonder if the implication is that the massive complexity seen in vertebrate neural tissue is dependent on the ability of RNA to edit itself and somehow enable cognitive capabilities far beyond those encoded in the un-edited DNA?

I'm just an enthusiastic layman so take all what I've written with a pail of salt.

xattt• 4 years ago

Further to this, could some conditions that lead to neurodiversity be the result variations of miRNA expression mechanisms?

melagonster• 4 years ago

usually, this is on octopus. human have more gene can generate more different RNA.

Pietbull• 4 years ago

Somewhat related - if you haven't yet, do see the "My Octopus Teacher" doccie on Netflix. Extraordinary creatures are these.

TEP_Kim_Il_Sung• 4 years ago

Alternate title "Assassination Classroom"

NotACop182• 4 years ago

That’s funny

Maxburn• 4 years ago

All right, this keeps coming up. I’ll put it on the list.

wmwmwm• 4 years ago

I can recommend “Other Minds” by Peter Godfrey-Smith for a pretty in depth read about octopus intelligence. Fascinating stuff!

gsatic• 4 years ago

Haven't heard of microRNA before...so this is just random RNA floating around?

tejtm• 4 years ago

The opposite of random may be a better starting point. RNA we think of mainly functions a message from DNA to build protein. but it is not too shocking there are other "messages" or conveniently shaped molecules to aid or inhibit existing cellular processes.

Yet another reason the word "gene" is unsafe to use except in reference to a heritable trait.

Animats• 4 years ago

Octopuses are interesting because they are so different from the mammals, yet are somewhat intelligent. The visual system is good but very different. They seem to have a more distributed system than mammals, with more done out in the limbs. More like the way automated factories are built. There's more than one way to do it.

dhosek• 4 years ago

What I find interesting is that as far as we know, they can’t see color and yet they can match their pigmentation to a colored background.

I’ve always wondered if they can blend in against an artificial background, say a checkerboard pattern.

jazzyjackson2• 4 years ago

cuttlefish ain't quite octopi, but do i have the video for you:

https://youtu.be/pgDE2DOICuc

spoiler: right angles are not in the repertoire

neodypsis4• 4 years ago

So intelligent yet so short-lived.

yieldcrv2• 4 years ago

Their digestive tract fuses shut as sexual maturity

Its a darwinian failure (or success) because it cant be weeded out by selective pressures since it happens after reproduction

neodypsis4• 4 years ago

Can it be surgically re-opened? To see how much could they really live?

rembicilious• 4 years ago

Could an octopus reproduce a second time if their digestive tract remained open? It seems like an octopus that could breed multiple times would have a selection advantage in the form of more offspring.

jazzyjackson2• 4 years ago

cant be weeded out by selective pressures since it happens after reproduction

if there was a population that didn't starve after sex, they might out-compete a population that did, say, by passing on learned behavior to their offspring

bmitc2• 4 years ago

There have been experiments that remove the gland that produces the hormone that kills off octopuses after copulation and birth. The octopuses seemed to live on with no problem, seemingly implying that the early death was indeed an adaptation to make room for the newly born.

neodypsis4• 4 years ago

How much longer could they live?

What octopus and human brains have in common

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