Genetic code enables zebrafish to mend damaged organs

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/genetic-code-enables-zebrafish-to-mend-damaged-organs

by bookofjoe • 1 year ago

115 14 1 year ago

zombot• 1 year ago

Genetic code enables lizards to regrow their tails.

I have also used genetic code to repair my epidermis with a fibrous tissue after injury. It keeps moisture in and pathogens out.

dietr1ch• 1 year ago

This but a scratch

TedDoesntTalk• 1 year ago

Future humans will be part human, part lizard, part zebra fish, and seveal other species. We will regrow teeth, heart, and limbs. Sometimes we might accidentally grow a tail.

ecef9-8c0f-4374• 1 year ago

We do already...sometimes. Vestigial tail

MangoToupe• 1 year ago

To a certain extent. Often times the regenerated "tails" are fatty stubs.

flobosg• 1 year ago

The related publication is unfortunately paywalled, but here’s the preprint: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.16.633462v1

taneq• 1 year ago

"Zebrafish mends damaged organs using Genetics and Code."

    if (organIsDamaged()) {
        dont();
    }

sydbarrett742• 1 year ago

Two words: nocturnal bottleneck.

sydbarrett742• 1 year ago

Don’t know why this was downvoted. It’s a compelling hypothesis.

m3kw9• 1 year ago

We really have to ask why humans did not evolve to have this capability before trying to jig one up

danielbln• 1 year ago

Because nothing comes without a cost. Maybe mutations that would allow us to regrow limbs also lead to horrific cancers that snuffed out any chance for reproduction. Maybe the benefit didn't outweigh the additional energy budget. Maybe it was just not necessary for procreation vs our advanced cognition so it never played into evolutionary fitness (compared to a lizard that can drop a tail when it's attacked, and regrow it for the neYt attack, which would surely improve its evolutionary fitness).

Additional reasons: our mammalian organs are highly complex, we live a long time, we are large animals with giant brains and high metabolic cost. The list goes on.

kjkjadksj• 1 year ago

In some ways evolution is inevitable but it is also a stroke of luck. The mutation behind the phenotype needs to actually happen. Then the mutant individual needs to actually have outsized reproductive success such that their progeny outcompetes with others and these mutant alleles spread in the population.

Genetic code enables zebrafish to mend damaged organs

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