Temperature-dependent RNA editing in octopus recodes the neural proteome | Hacker News Reader

Temperature-dependent RNA editing in octopus recodes the neural proteome

cell.com

95 pointswallflower24 comments

The Central Dogma of molecular biology is that DNA makes RNA, and RNA makes protein. This doesn't explicitly state that there's a 1:1 dependency between these things, but it kind of implies it. This paper describes a discovery that in Octopuses, sufficiently low temperatures trigger modification of the RNA before it's used as a template for protein production. The paper identifies cases where this results in modification to a protein involved in microtubule transport and a protein involved in ion transport in synapses, both plausible scenarios where you may want different properties in different thermodynamic situations.

This is both very neat and very irritating! It's a lovely result where there's apparent demonstration of a complex mechanism producing an intuitive result, but it's also another case where just having the DNA sequence doesn't tell you what's actually happening in the cell. Biology is complicated.

> Central Dogma of molecular biology is that DNA makes RNA, and RNA makes protein

mRNA in most animal cells, sure. RNA’s direct role in gene expression, RNAi, RNA that modified other RNA, et cetera have been known about for a while.

The central dogma is kind of like a spherical cow in biology. It is a very rough approximation that is simple enough and correct enough for non-biosci college freshman to work with and learn something from.

what...? It's not some simplification to make toy problems for freshman. It's literally be always correct till they just discovered this thing

From what I understand it's the first case of "Temperature-dependent RNA editing" ever observed

> till they just discovered this thing

There’s introns, alternate splicings… lots of very common exceptions/complications to the central dogma that I never knew about until I started learning more than high school biology.

This is discovery of a new form of post-transcription modification, but it’s not the first.

Lol! What makes a lung epithelial cell different from an alveolar cell? They both carry a copy of the entire genome. How do cells transduce mechanical, chemical, and environmental signals / stresses to alter gene expression?

gene expression/inhibition doesn't require gene editing

I am not sure what you are getting at. Epigenetic modification of the genome (methylation, acylation, TAD formation, etc) is not gene editing, but it is most certainly modification of the genome.

I am not a biologist, but from what I understand the gene regulatory network is like a neural network, so it could encode arbitrary behaviour as selected by evolution. Maybe someone who knows what they are talking about could chime in.

It was rhetorical. The answer is immaterial, just that the question presented a clear deviation from the dogma.

this is more like a question of development biology. gene regulation play important role during development of cell. so the common question is what decide the fate of cells? and this is difficult. the normal explanation in textbook: when embryo develop, cell grow up to specific type by many different way(surely gene regulation), and in the whole life of individual cell just mitosis.

Rna is still encoding for protein though and dna is still encoding for rna which then gets processed. Plenty of rna is spliced after transcription in many species.

My take is that it's not a simplification - it's just incomplete. Presenting it as the only way things work is just incorrect and an unnecessary lie to teach students. But it is one way things work and a pretty important one at that. We've known about a myriad other interactions between dna, rna, and protein for a while though

...Are you unaware that HIV works, and has always worked, by using reverse transcriptase, which inputs RNA and outputs DNA?

It may be a simplification in that it's the default, but it is not "literally always correct".

Exactly, the reason it’s called a “dogma” is semi-sarcasm, just like “big bang”.

For those also wondering what this means:

The statement "Temperature-dependent RNA editing in octopus recodes the neural proteome" refers to a phenomenon observed in octopuses where RNA editing, a process that alters the genetic information carried by RNA molecules, is influenced by temperature. This temperature-dependent RNA editing leads to changes in the neural proteome, which refers to the entire set of proteins expressed in the nervous system of an organism.

RNA editing is a post-transcriptional modification process that can change the nucleotide sequence of RNA molecules. In octopuses, this editing process occurs in a temperature-dependent manner, meaning that the extent or pattern of RNA editing varies depending on the temperature to which the octopus is exposed.

As a result of temperature-dependent RNA editing, the genetic information encoded in the RNA molecules is altered, leading to changes in the proteins produced by the octopus's nervous system. This has implications for the functioning and adaptability of the neural proteome, potentially affecting neural processes such as signal transmission, synaptic plasticity, or neural development.

Overall, this statement highlights an intriguing aspect of octopus biology, indicating that environmental factors such as temperature can influence the RNA editing process and subsequently impact the composition of the proteins in the octopus's nervous system.

Can you continue to elaborate? Does this mean that the octopus may undergo a shift in how its nervous system experiences the world? Does this temperature sensitive RNA editing occur in other organisms?

Not sure if this is what you were curious about, but heat-shock proteins are extensively studied in other organisms:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_shock_protein

Sex determination is temperature dependent in certain species

We've known for a few years that cephalopods edit most of their mRNA (like 60% or so) to change the protein that's made. So this result isn't super surprising to the field. This is very much an example of epitranscriptomics, along with it's eponymous relative epigenetics, shows sophisticated additional layers by which life can respond to environmental queues.

A nitpick, but I think you mean “cues”. Unless you’ve uncovered new evidence of octopi forming overly lines and waiting for their turn?

Ah yes, the inevitable slippery slope from sentience to polite bureaucracy.

Intelligent design proponents familiar with the concept of technical debt will have a field day with it.

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