The immortal jellyfish
Immortality in nature is not such a far-fetched thought after all. This is Turritopsis dohrnii, commonly known as the immortal jellyfish. With this guy it isn’t about living for a really long time: it can live its life over and over again, from start to finish, juvenile to adult, as many times as it wants.
How does it do it? After reaching sexual maturity, if Turritopsis is threatened or stressed, it hits a ‘reset button’ and reverts back to its polyp stage. The adult will settle on strata, turn into a blob of jelly and all of its cells undergo transdifferentiation, where cells will return to their earliest form and grow anew, essentially restarting its life cycle all over again. The only way this guy can die is if it is eaten or succumbs to disease while in its polyp stage.
Turritopsis has received incredible attention for its potential in medical applications. The ability to regenerate its cells has been used in anti-ageing technology (http://bit.ly/1Hs5ZRN), and transdifferentiation is an efficient method of cell recycling that is important in stem cell research, which could help scientists replace cells lost to disease.
- Ash
Source credit: http://bit.ly/1kagV1J Source credit: http://bit.ly/1DgBWA3 Image credit: American Museum of Natural History