#Irhadra jellyfissh full#
Because we think that those are the genes involved in regeneration and the ability of escaping death.” Could humans become immortal like a jellyfish?Īfter reading about how jellyfish seem to have achieved eternal life, you’re probably asking one major question: how can I get me some of that? Unfortunately, while the immortal jellyfish can go full Benjamin Button at will, humans are a long way off mastering this level of transdifferentiation. “At the moment, we want to understand what kind of genes are turned on in the cyst. “It’s the DNA that programmes a cell – certain genes being ‘turned on’ or 'off' will determine what sort of cell it is. “It most certainly has something to do with the DNA,” she says. However, as Miglietta explains, the answer will likely be found in the jellyfish's genes. The exact mechanism behind transdifferentiation is still a mystery to scientists. In just two to three days, the medusa can metamorphose back into a polyp.” “In the cyst, adult cells can become something that’s needed for the polyp and then, crucially, integrate back into the organism. It’s how a cell can adapt,” explains Dr Maria Pia Miglietta, associate professor at Texas A&M University at Galveston and head of The Real Immortal Jellyfish research project. “This is basically when a fully formed specialised adult cell can become another type of specialised adult cell. It's an ability powered by a process known as transdifferentiation. How can this happen? Magic? Stem cells? Close. Feeling old? DNA mutations might be causing you to age quicker.It can effectively go back and forwards between the medusa and polyp stage in its lifecycle, almost the biological equivalent of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. If starved, injured or in waters too cold or hot, an adult Turritopsis dohrnii drops to the ocean floor and transforms into a tiny blob of tissue (known as a cyst) and becomes a polyp once again. However, if the grim reaper comes knocking, the immortal jellyfish turns this cycle on its head. Medusa: this is a fully-grown adult jellyfish, which can reproduce sexually with another jellyfish (usually dying shortly afterwards).Ephyra: after forming a new set of muscles and nerves, a section of a polyp (either the original polyp or clone) becomes an ephyra, an organism that can swim independently, grow and feed.When conditions such as water temperature suit it, the polyp will reproduce asexually, cloning itself to create a small colony.
Polyp: The planula will swim down to find a solid surface (such as a seabed), where it will develop a digestive system and is able to feed itself.It looks something like a microscopic worm and can swim about freely. Planula: the fertilised egg grows into a small larva called a planula.Fertilised egg: an adult jellyfish (known as a medusa) will spawn eggs and sperm into the water, with these two types of cells joining up to create a fertilised egg.Normally, a mere mortal jellyfish passes through five stages of life: To understand how the immortal jellyfish is able to hack its lifecycle, you first have to dive into how a normal jellyfish ages. How does the immortal jellyfish live forever? This is why the immortal jellyfish is unlikely to overpopulate the Earth anytime soon. While an immortal jellyfish can age in reverse, it can also be easily killed by predators including various fish, sharks, turtles and even other jellyfish. That’s because these jellyfish have only been studied sporadically since the early 1980s, meaning experts have only a few decades’ worth of data. However, while this is technically feasible, it's by no means provable. Which gets more impressive considering these creatures have been floating through the oceans long before the dinosaurs went extinct (66 million years ago) – it's biologically possible for a single immortal jellyfish to have been alive for this entire time. How long does the immortal jellyfish live?
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