They're not even technically one organism, but colonies of independent but mostly specialized organisms. I'd be willing to bet that has something to do with the articles title
True jellyfish (like moon jellies, box jellyfish)are a single organism, just like you or me. Theres a single genome and one body.
Portuguese man o’ war is not a single organism at all but a siphonophore, a colony of many genetically identical but specialized individual organisms called zooids, all fused together and functionally dependent on each other.
Whats the difference between a siphonophore and a single organism? Aren't all the organs of an organism genetically identical, specialized, fused together, and functionally dependent on each other?
It's a very fuzzy line. But according to The Octopus Lady's video in the other comment, it's because separating them from the other zooids doesn't result in immediate death. They may die later due to lack of ability to swim, or eat, but that is a secondary cause which is considered important.
It's just a fact about the evolutionary history. You are a "multicellular" organism; you are composed of a bunch of genetically identical cells that fuse with each other and differentiate their development to specialize in certain tasks. It's not just your organs; your entire being is like that.
Siphonophores are identical, except that they can be subdivided into units that are, much like organs, composed of multiple cells. Those units can be identified as evolutionary derivations of certain branches of the tree of life. This is more similar to your mitochondria, which are (like zooids) identifiable as having once been independent organisms, though unlike zooids your mitochondria are not genetically identical to you.
True. And also amazing how complex their interactions can be! Just because immune cells are often individually motile, does not mean they're not intimately interoperating within an incredibly complex social ecology of cells. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_cell is full of surprises.
Your comment has completely failed to distinguish "organisms" from "siphonophores". As you describe yourself, a siphonophore also has a single genome and one body.
This is a press release from a marine research organization, so the main implication here isn't that they're doing it because it's in any way relevant to humans. They're doing it because it's a cool thing for a marine research organization to research.
Yes, it's probably not gonna help humans, unless some of your friends are gelatinous blobs with no circulatory or nervous system and with a lifespan measured in months.
Hell, any research lab would implore you to make such challenge. Imagine all the things we'd missed out on if we always acted towards some certain goal(s), probably half the stuff we have today wouldn't have been invented (yet?).
Clytia is not just your normal jellyfish, is an organism that alternate between a jellyfish and a polyp. Is also in the same group of the only animals that are known with a life span that has the potentially to be immortal. I'm not joking. This things exist. So the word "heal" here can mean different things.
Relevant for humans, as reef corals are related with jellyfishes and have free larvae that could respond in a similar way to temperature damage. This just another clue that some people is being more and more concerned by AMOC, even if it may be too late yet.
But I would still be careful not to blur together wound healing, regeneration and rejuvenation. They may share some cellular machinery, but they are not the same process
The article is pretty explicit that the interesting part is that some of the underlying epithelial repair mechanisms appear to be conserved across animals, including mammals
> Yes, it's probably not gonna help humans, unless some of your friends are gelatinous blobs with no circulatory or nervous system and with a lifespan measured in months.
Who knows, maybe we'll have organic suites for people or sealing membranes for mechanisms.
I mean, all in all, most life forms are reproductive unit in some stage, or part of i, from the species point of view. Though some individual prove sterile.
Agreed. I always hated the 'two part', 'payoff'-based drama of titles like these, even before the LLM era. If it was lazy before (it was), it now comes off as 'one-click' lazy. Sadly, The Guardian has become infested with this style lately.
What I like about this work is that the jellyfish may be less important as a source of some magical "regeneration gene" and more useful as a system where you can actually see the basic mechanics clearly
Jellyfish, bieng transparent and without a brain, dont have any secrets, and instantainious wound healing might be the compensation for that, or price, but by all accounts they have managed to get by more or less as they are, for 700 million years and so will likely be availible for further observation, for as long as we manage to stick around.
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[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 48.3 ms ] threadPortuguese man o’ war is not a single organism at all but a siphonophore, a colony of many genetically identical but specialized individual organisms called zooids, all fused together and functionally dependent on each other.
Siphonophores are identical, except that they can be subdivided into units that are, much like organs, composed of multiple cells. Those units can be identified as evolutionary derivations of certain branches of the tree of life. This is more similar to your mitochondria, which are (like zooids) identifiable as having once been independent organisms, though unlike zooids your mitochondria are not genetically identical to you.
Actually, it bears pointing out that significant parts of you, like your blood, remain single-celled even though you're "multicellular".
But no. No such joy.
Yes, it's probably not gonna help humans, unless some of your friends are gelatinous blobs with no circulatory or nervous system and with a lifespan measured in months.
Relevant for humans, as reef corals are related with jellyfishes and have free larvae that could respond in a similar way to temperature damage. This just another clue that some people is being more and more concerned by AMOC, even if it may be too late yet.
Who knows, maybe we'll have organic suites for people or sealing membranes for mechanisms.
> We tend to think of the flower—or the jellyfish—as the organism, but these are actually reproductive units.
I'll never look at jellyfish the same.