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octopus behaving strangely

Cajunman said:
Okay, wait a minute here?
This Autophagy thing is a bit odd.
Am i understanding this correctly?
Not only will an octo eat it's self, but the act of eating it's self is
contagious to other octo's?

You are indeed understanding correctly. This is a contagious disease. the jury is still out concerning the cause but there is some suggestion that it is (in octopus at least) a prion (mad cow disease is caused by a prion), which is smaller than a virus and can sit dormant in cells (perhaps in the DNA) until something triggers it. Common triggers can be stress, poor husbandry.............or ..................sometimes the trigger isn't identified.

I'm assuming that the prions (or whatever!) can survive in aquascaping etc as without major sterilization of tank and equipment the next octi resident will get it too.

J
 
Thanks Jean, that was so well written, even i could understand it!!
I did some reading about prion's and ended up in wikipdia reading about
the canabalistic Fore' Tribe in Papua New Guinea. scientist have found the same type of disease in humans. I have heard about the existence of a canabalistic tribe, but had no idea it was caused by disease. I thought it was based in some religous practice. So, not only did you answer my question concerning Autophagy, but you aided in the removal of Papua New Guinea from the list of places I would like to visit!LOL
 
Cajunman said:
I did some reading about prion's and ended up in wikipdia reading about the canabalistic Fore' Tribe in Papua New Guinea. scientist have found the same type of disease in humans. I have heard about the existence of a canabalistic tribe, but had no idea it was caused by disease. I thought it was based in some religous practice. So, not only did you answer my question concerning Autophagy, but you aided in the removal of Papua New Guinea from the list of places I would like to visit!LOL

Okay, I think you need to revisit Wikipedia and read the article again. The disease kuru is believed to be caused by a prion, and is spread through the act of eating the dead in the Fore. Consuming their dead is a cultural practise, and is not related at all to the disease or prions. Just a point of clarification.

Cheers!
 
OK folks, now you've gone and done it! I'm going to have to dig out my old copy of Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes. For those of you whose SF Geek gene isn't as fully expressed as my own, Dream Park is a 1981 novel in which the Fore' and kuru have a significant role.

In addition, the hero is a guy named Alex.

Edibly yours,

Alex
 
main_board said:
Okay, I think you need to revisit Wikipedia and read the article again. The disease kuru is believed to be caused by a prion, and is spread through the act of eating the dead in the Fore. Consuming their dead is a cultural practise, and is not related at all to the disease or prions. Just a point of clarification.

Cheers!

OOppps, I'm wrong again! (not the first time thats happened!)
Thanks for the clarification, i fell much safer, and now know to avoid
the Seard Fore' Steak with Garlic roasted Potatoes and Mushroom demi
lunch special!

Thanks!
 
Jean said:
...there is some suggestion that it is (in octopus at least) a prion (mad cow disease is caused by a prion), which is smaller than a virus and can sit dormant in cells (perhaps in the DNA) until something triggers it.

This seems rather different than my understanding of prions-- a prion is a protein which can cause a the natural isomer of a protein to change into a copy of the prion (which is another isomer of the same protein), propogating itself and depleting the supply of the "normal" protein isomer. I can't think of any way it could go backwards, and modify the DNA to produce the prion form of the protein, because the protein has no genetic material or nucleic acids-- as far as I know, only a virus can get itself inserted into the host's DNA... Not sure about sitting dormant-- I expect the prion only reproduces effectively when large amounts of the normal protein are being produced, so if a stressed animal produces a lot of the normal protein, then that might lead to the prion getting a foothold, and hence becoming "un-dormant."

Prion - Wikipedia describes prions pretty well, although Nature has some minor complaints about it...
 

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