Date: January 7, 2019
Source: University of Connecticut
Bacteria,
which are vital for the health of all animals, also played a major role in the
evolution of animals and their tissues. In an effort to understand just how
animals co-evolved with bacteria over time, researchers have turned to the
Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes.
In a new
study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, an international team of researchers, led by UConn associate
professor of molecular and cell biology Spencer Nyholm, sequenced the genome of
this little squid to identify unique evolutionary footprints in symbiotic
organs, yielding clues about how organs that house bacteria are especially
suited for this partnership.
The first
squid genome was sequenced by Nyholm, along with Jamie Foster of the University
of Florida, Oleg Simakov of the University of Vienna, and Mahdi Belcaid of the
University of Hawaii. The team found several surprises, for instance, that the
Hawaiian bobtail squid's genome is 1.5 times the size of the human genome.
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