> RNA editing, a post-transcriptional process, allows the diversification of proteomes beyond the genomic blueprint; however it is infrequently used among animals for this purpose.<p>If I had written this and showed it to my PhD advisor, I would have gotten an earful about how "what do you mean by... be specific... what about...", etc. My PI was a nitpicker. Poor fools whose papers had to be edited by him...<p>That said, RNA splicing is perhaps the single most important RNA editing process in the entire eukaryotic world. And it is so widespread and universally conserved that you can put a human gene in a mouse and it would be spliced the same way. So I don't think RNA editing is something so rare.
They're cool but they're never taking over the planet. Suckers.<p>On a more serious note, it's very interesting to see the different mechanisms that nature develops for adaptability.<p>It seems like there's a trade off here between heredability and adaptability, with cephalopods favouring the second one. Meaning on a long scale their evolution might be slower but it allows them to overcome challenges on the short term more effectively. If I understood correctly, as I haven't read the whole thing yet.
Here's a recent study employing modern imaging methods to observe and chart the activities in the brains of octopuses. It's quite surprising to find a high level of similarity with more advanced visual species.<p>Functional organization of visual responses in the octopus optic lobe
<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982223007455?dgcid=raven_sd_aip_email" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098222...</a>
Is there a connection to this and the supposed extraterrestrial retrovirus link to Cephalopods I’ve seen discussed within a Panspermia discussion?<p><a href="https://mindmatters.ai/2022/01/science-paper-could-octopuses-be-aliens-from-outer-space/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://mindmatters.ai/2022/01/science-paper-could-octopuses...</a>