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- Dec 24, 2002
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Heads up folks - Thought this might be interesting...
-John
Radiation and Mutation in Squid Cells
By Osae Tevesh, Cytology Today
From the magazine Cytology Today (April 1, 2005) – Scientists working in the area around the Bikini Islands have made an astounding discovery; apparently some squid in the area, members of the species Rossa pacifica, still carry radiation from the Hydrogen bomb tests of the early 1950’s. And what’s more, mutation is being directly observed at the cellular level.
Captured specimens of mutated R. pacifica have started to show up in fishermen’s nets, though the mutations are not easily observable from observation of the squids’ external bodies. The real findings are the amounts of Caesium-137 and Strontium-90 in the cells, as well as the apparent growth of new, possibly nervous tissue around the crainial nerves of the squid. Dr. Toshi Ogawa of Honshu University reported “This was amazing. What we found was tissue growth similar to vertebrate myelination surrounding the crainial nerves. Also, we have seen a strange pattern of telomere formation at the cellular level, and a lack of telomerase wear which usually occurs with stages of cellular mitosis and helps us to determine the age of the cells.”
Says Dr. Katsuhiko Jinai of Tokyo University’s marine sciences program, “This finding is astounding, mostly because it sheds light on the transmission of radioactive particles in the ecosystem, and how they may affect the cells of squid, in this case Rossa pacifica. Because of the telomerase wear anomaly, we cannot accurately determine the age of the squid.” When asked if this means that these squid may be the same squid that survived the undersea nuclear tests, Jinai laughed and said “Well, right now we can’t count out anything, though I doubt a squid could live for fifty-plus years."
Ogawa adds, “What I’m interested in is how these animals survive with near-lethal doses of radioactive isotopes in their cells and somehow harbor mutations that may be beneficial. Further study must be done.”
-John
Radiation and Mutation in Squid Cells
By Osae Tevesh, Cytology Today
From the magazine Cytology Today (April 1, 2005) – Scientists working in the area around the Bikini Islands have made an astounding discovery; apparently some squid in the area, members of the species Rossa pacifica, still carry radiation from the Hydrogen bomb tests of the early 1950’s. And what’s more, mutation is being directly observed at the cellular level.
Captured specimens of mutated R. pacifica have started to show up in fishermen’s nets, though the mutations are not easily observable from observation of the squids’ external bodies. The real findings are the amounts of Caesium-137 and Strontium-90 in the cells, as well as the apparent growth of new, possibly nervous tissue around the crainial nerves of the squid. Dr. Toshi Ogawa of Honshu University reported “This was amazing. What we found was tissue growth similar to vertebrate myelination surrounding the crainial nerves. Also, we have seen a strange pattern of telomere formation at the cellular level, and a lack of telomerase wear which usually occurs with stages of cellular mitosis and helps us to determine the age of the cells.”
Says Dr. Katsuhiko Jinai of Tokyo University’s marine sciences program, “This finding is astounding, mostly because it sheds light on the transmission of radioactive particles in the ecosystem, and how they may affect the cells of squid, in this case Rossa pacifica. Because of the telomerase wear anomaly, we cannot accurately determine the age of the squid.” When asked if this means that these squid may be the same squid that survived the undersea nuclear tests, Jinai laughed and said “Well, right now we can’t count out anything, though I doubt a squid could live for fifty-plus years."
Ogawa adds, “What I’m interested in is how these animals survive with near-lethal doses of radioactive isotopes in their cells and somehow harbor mutations that may be beneficial. Further study must be done.”