Researchers Unintentionally Uncover a Marine Organism Exhibiting Reversal of Ageing Processes
Researchers Unintentionally Uncover a Marine Organism Exhibiting Reversal of Ageing Processes
When you gaze at your reflection and yearn for a decade less, what you're essentially desiring is a reversal of maturation, or essentially, reversing the aging process. Although most creatures, including humans, are born, grow old, and ultimately pass away, some species manage to buck this conventional trend: they seem to defy age and transform into their younger selves.
Turritopsis dohrnii, famously known as the immortal jellyfish, is the most renowned species in this peculiar category. A recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has unveiled a new contender with extraordinary abilities to this exclusive club: the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi, also known as the comb jelly. Now, researchers are pondering how many more species with "time-traveling" capabilities there might be.
"The study challenges our understanding of early animal development and body plans, opening new avenues for the study of life cycle plasticity and rejuvenation. Discovering a new species with this peculiar 'time-travel machine' raises intriguing questions about how widespread this ability is across the animal tree of life," Joan J. Soto-Angel, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bergen who co-authored the study, stated.
The study's origin was serendipitous. Soto-Angel started investigating the topic after an infantile ctenophore unexpectedly replaced an adult ctenophore in a tank in his lab. Fortuitously, it was actually the same individual. Consequently, Soto-Angel and his colleagues endeavored to recreate the conditions that trigger reverse development and uncovered that a mature ctenophore can indeed mutate into a larval stage under conditions of extreme stress.
"Observing its gradual transformation into a typical cydippid larva, as if traveling back in time, was simply mesmerizing. Over several weeks, they not only metamorphosed their physical attributes, but they also developed a distinct feeding behavior, characteristic of a cydippid larva," Soto-Angel explained.
Comb jellies are ancient creatures—in fact, some studies propose that they might have been the first animal to have ever existed, making its appearance roughly 700 million years ago—making the researchers posulate that the ability to reverse maturation might be a fundamental skill.
"This is an exhilarating time for us," Paul Burkhardt, a researcher at the University of Bergen who also co-authored the study, stated. "This remarkable discovery will pave the way for many critical findings. It will be exciting to delve into the molecular mechanism behind reverse development and observe what happens to the animal’s nerve net during this process."
The two researchers propose that life cycle flexibility—an organism's capacity to alter aspects of its biology in response to specific environmental stimuli—might be more prevalent among animals than was previously realized, according to the statement. In terms of humans, unfortunately, all the creams and products in the world have yet to achieve such remarkable anti-aging results. However, future research in developmental biology and aging now has a novel example in the animal kingdom to draw inspiration from.
The discovery of reverse maturation in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi has sparked interest in the potential prevalence of this ability among various animal species. This newfound flexibility in life cycles could serve as a source of inspiration for future research in human developmental biology and aging. Moreover, advancements in technology and science might unlock the secrets to reversing aging, offering promising possibilities for the future.