Task 10 Academic writing
Rewrite the following text using a formal style of writing.
Octopuses are pretty clever when it comes to adapting to temperature changes. They can actually mess around with their genetic code to tweak the proteins in their nerve cells.
Scientists have already found out that squids and octopuses, known as cephalopods, have this amazing ability to mess with their RNA. RNA is like a messenger that carries the instructions from DNA to the parts of the cell that make proteins. But no one really knew why these creatures did it or what it did to them.
To figure it out, Joshua Rosenthal and his buddies at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, decided to test California two-spot octopuses. They put some of them in a tank with gradually colder water (around 13°C or 55°F) and others in a tank with warmer water (around 22°C or 72°F).
Guess what they found? The octopuses in the colder tank made over 13,000 changes to their RNA, which ended up affecting the proteins they produced.
Rosenthal thinks that these changes help the octopuses adjust to their new environment, at least when it comes to temperature. He says, "It's like they're getting used to the different conditions."
Now, lots of animals, including us humans, have enzymes that can mess with RNA too. But for most animals, these changes happen in RNA that doesn't code for proteins. Instead, it does other cool things like influencing how our immune cells develop or work.
Octopuses have an ingenious mechanism when adapting to changes in temperature. The modification of proteins in their nerve cells is made possible due to their ability to manipulate their genetic code.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the reason and cause was not yet known, scientists have already discovered that cephalopods, squids and octopuses, have the unique ability to alter their RNA, a messenger that carries DNA information to components of a cell to produce protein.
For better understanding, Joshua Rosenthal and his colleagues at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, conducted experiments on California two-spot octopuses. The octopuses were divided into two groups and situated in two different tanks: one with lowering temperature, approximately around 13°C or 55°F, and one with higher temperature at around 22°C or 72°F .
The results detailed that over 13,000 adjustments were made in the RNA of the octopuses placed in tanks with cooler temperature, affecting the proteins produced.
According to Rosenthal, the octopus’s alterations in their RNA aid their adjustment to new environments, especially when concerning temperature changes. He notes, “It’s like they’re getting used to the different conditions.”
In the present numerous organisms, including humans, can alter RNA with possession of distinct enzymes. Even though the changes occur in RNA that do not code for protein, it has other wondrous effects, for instance, the influence on the development and function of human immune cells.