Scientists create 12-headed jellyfish

Scientists at the Hanover Institute of Veterinary Medicine in Germany, have, by fiddling with a few genes, created a 12-headed jellyfish.

Washington, Aug 1 : Scientists at the Hanover Institute of Veterinary Medicine in Germany, have, by fiddling with a few genes, created a 12-headed jellyfish.

Bernd Schierwater, evolutionary biologist and invertebrate zoologist at the Hanover University and his colleague, Wolfgang Jakob, targeted the so-called Cnox genes on a European hydromedusa (Eleutheria dichotoma) collected from the south of France.

The Cnox genes help control how the bodies of jellyfish are laid out as their embryos develop. They are closely related to Hox genes, which play a similar role in humans.

The researchers designed RNA molecules that specifically only "silenced" Cnox genes in these saltwater critters. Normally, the saltiness of these animals would prevent the molecules from entering their cells, but the scientists diluted seawater with freshwater enough "where the jellyfish still survived and the RNA got in".

By inhibiting one Cnox gene called Cnox-3, two heads often formed, where both were completely functional-regarding food intake, for instance. But by deactivating another, Cnox-2, more than two heads usually sprouted-"up to a dozen," said Schierwater.

According to Schierwater, the genetic experiments could shed light on how natural colonies of other multi-headed organisms first originated, including some that build coral reefs.

The findings appear in the August 1 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE, reports Livescience.

ANI