Ever question how we ’re going to create humans who can take a breath underwater ? Of course you do . Now a study publish this week about how algae intimate themselves into salamander embryos ( and DNA ) could provide the origin of an result .
We know that computer virus can invade an being , and eventually wind up integrating into that being ’s DNA for good . Human DNA is packed with all the computer virus DNA we ’ve absorbed over the preceding few hundred thousand years . But could other microbes do the same matter ? A group of life scientist decided to find out out , by analyse the kinship between algae and salamander . They have it away that algae often snuck inside salamander embryos , but the question that nagged was what happened next . Now it seems potential that some salamanders are literally part alga . And this odd situation could be the creation for biological tweaks that might help future posthumans live underwater .
Basically , it appears that algae slip into developing salamander egg , and become part of the salamander fetus as it grows . And the alga does n’t will , either – some adult fire hook have algae DNA , which they are likely give-up the ghost on to the next generation . That ’s right-hand : Salamanders are part - plant .
According to a liberation from PNAS :
The researchers report that algae , which may come into contact with developing salamanders when the orchis are set in pools of piss , enter the embryos before the growth of the salamander ’s adaptative resistant system . Previous studies have declare oneself that the adaptative resistant system foreclose intracellular symbiosis between alga and vertebrate animals . Fewer algal cell were detected in later stage salamander larvae ; however , test revealed algal deoxyribonucleic acid in the procreative pamphlet of some grownup , which suggested to the investigator that alga may also directly shift to salamander offspring from one generation to the next .
Here ’s where things get interesting for those of us who look onwards to the Homo sapiens aquatic bio - expansion pack . The likely reason why this half - works , half - animal symbiotic family relationship evolve was because the alga snacked on nitrogen in the conceptus ’s waste , while the embryo benefited from the oxygen in the alga ’s waste . OK , yes , they were both eat on each other ’s poop , if you need to think of it that way of life . But more importantly , what it means is that algae could be build up - in source of oxygen for organisms it decides to pair with symbiotically .
According to the source of this study , we are now certain that algae can live within vertebrate tissues , which mean – hey , why not in human race ? We ’re craniate . Next time you ’re coming up with your mad scientist architectural plan to design aquatic humans , consider alga implants . Sure you ’d need to do a passel of bioengineering first , but alga could prove to be the foundation of a redesigned homo who require aid get out oxygen from the pee .
Readthe scientific article that inhale this fantast speculationin PNAS .
bioengineeringBiologyFuturismPosthumanPosthumanitySciencesynthetic biological science
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