The life cycle is quite simple in animals, including humans. The latter occurs in three stages: we are born, we age and we die. There are, however, exceptions to the rule. In any case, we only knew one until now: the Turritopsis dohrnii. Nicknamed immortal jellyfish, the latter has the ability to rejuvenate. Amazingly, researchers have discovered another sea creature defying the cycle of life.
Make way for the immortelle Mnemiopsis leidyi
In detail, researchers have just announced in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences having got their hands on a new immortal species called Mnemiopsis leidyi. Faced with this ctenophore, also called comb jellyfish, they wonder about the real number of “time-traveling” creatures.
Joan J. Soto-Angel, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bergen and co-author, emphasizes that “this work challenges our understanding of the development and body plans of primitive animals, opening new perspectives for the study of plasticity and rejuvenation of the life cycle”.
Discovering the abilities of this sea creature
The researcher at the origin of this study explains in particular that he discovered the rejuvenation capabilities when one of his Mnemiopsis leidyi found itself in a larval state although it was previously an adult. And they checked it, it was the same individual in the jar!
Joan J. Soto-Angel’s colleagues then attempted to replicate the reversed development process on other ctenophores of the same species, and discovered that the transition from the adult to larval state occurred during stress. extreme.
“In a few weeks, they not only remodeled their morphological characteristics, but they also adopted a completely different feeding behavior, typical of a cydippid larva,” he explains.
Joan J. Soto-Angel explains that “it was just fascinating to see how they slowly transformed into typical cydippid larvae, as if they were going back in time.”
An application in humans coming soon?
For the moment, researchers are not talking about applying the process to humans at this time. They are in fact only at the understanding phase of this rejuvenation mechanism.
“This fascinating discovery will pave the way for many important discoveries. It will be interesting to reveal the molecular mechanism behind reverse development and what happens to the animal’s nervous network during this process,” shares Paul Burkhardt, researcher at the University of Bergen and co- author of the study.
