Sea anemone is genetically half animal, half plant
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/03/18/sea_anemone_is_genetically_half_animal_half_plant.html
This article explains how a team from at the University of Vienna discovered that sea anemones have microRNA's that resemble both those of plants and of animals. microRNA's are similar to RNA's however microRNAs are short regulatory RNAs, which can bind to target RNAs and inhibit their translation or lead to dissociation of the target RNA. These microRNA's play an important role in metabolism and are crucial in developmental processes. In fact we assume that 30-50 percent of all human genes are regulated by microRNA's. It is suggested that these sea anemones date back 600 million years to before the split of plants and animals causing them to have both sets of microRNA. Before this finding it was thought that plant microRNA's and animal microRNA's arose independently, but now after finding an organism with both sets of microRNA's there seems to be a link between the two.
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Very cool! I found another article about a sea slug that was also discovered to be half plant- half animal because it was the first animal found to produce chlorophyll! Supposedly the slugs "stole" the genes from the algae that they eat which allow them to produce chlorophyll. In addition to that they have also "stolen" chloroplasts. Scientists put them in an aquarium with light shining on them and they were able to survive for months without food. Special radioactive tracers showed that they were actually producing the chlorophyll themselves. The babies of these slugs are also born with the ability to produce chlorophyll, however they can't until they've eaten enough algae to get the chloroplasts. I just thought that this was totally insane (especially since we just learned about this stuff and it made sense!!)
ReplyDeleteHere is the article:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34824610/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/sea-slug-surprise-its-half-plant-half-animal/#.Uy5G6hY5vzI
I also have found an article about a small bug with photosynthetic capabilities. This green aphid is able to use the sun to produce energy. This was discovered because ATP levels were much higher in green aphids than in white aphids. This is because the white aphids reflect all the suns light, but the green aphids can absorb some light and use it to produce ATP. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/green-aphid-photosynthesis/
ReplyDeleteI have checked out all of theses articles, and would like to point out that sea anemones do not perform photosynthesis like the sea slug and the green aphids, but rather are genetically similiar in the form of their microRNAs. That being said, I did my own research on the function of microRNAs. I found that they are post-transcriptional regulators. This means that they regulate and mRNAs during the process of synthesis. In most plants they direct slicing of the mRNAs. In animals they have been found to have a role in blocking translational initiation. http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v14/n8/fig_tab/nrm3611_F4.html
ReplyDeleteThese Micro-RNA's seem interesting, but the thing that intrigues me the most is what the actual cell looks like. Do they have a cell wall or just a cell membrane? Do they have a central vacuole? And do they perform photosynthesis? (probably not, as they live too far underwater). A hybrid plant-animal cell would be highly intriguing.
ReplyDeleteThe article says the the anemone's DNA is like a vertebrate, but its micro-RNA is plant like, why would it have taken the scientist so long to figure this all out? I think that this is very cool, but it is also kinda creepy. Could humans, if we wanted, create something using this information that combined both a plant and animal together getting the best parts of both to create some super thing, or would we not have the ability to do that even though we know something like that is possible?
ReplyDelete