So just think of pigment cells.Īnd we chose that enzyme because we knocked out just that enzyme. KAREN CRAWFORD: We chose the tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase gene, which I’m just going to call TDO, because it’s the very first enzyme step in making a set of pigments called ommochromes. IRA FLATOW: And, Karen, what gene did you target here? I understand it was a pigmentation gene. We want to use genetically tractable organisms to answer some of the fundamental problem and questions about marine organisms. So one of the groups of organisms that we’re very interested in are cephalopods because of their biological novelties.
That’s the ability to manipulate genes and see the outcomes. There are a lot of creatures that have all sorts of interesting biological programs that we’d like to get at.Īnd really in order to get at those things these days, you need what we call genetic tractability. But we really don’t have the tools to study it. And more biodiversity exists in the ocean than anywhere else. JOSH ROSENTHAL: I think this goes back to really a big initiative we have at the NBL, which recognizes that life started in the ocean.
Why was there this quest to knock out a gene in a squid? IRA FLATOW: Josh, I want to start with the why. JOSH ROSENTHAL: Thank you very much for having us. She is a visiting research fellow at the laboratory. Here to talk to us about the research are two of the scientists involved, Josh Rosenthal, Senior Scientist at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, and Karen Crawford, Professor of Biology at St. This has huge implications for the study of genetics. And it’s here that big news in genetics world has come out.įor the first time, scientists have successfully knocked out a gene in squid. So it’s the perfect hope for the Marine Biological Laboratory and International Center for Research. The water in this area is flush with marine life. Out east on the southwest corner of Cape Cod is the town of Woods Hole.
SQUIDS NEXT DOOR FULL
Read the full study in Current Biology.Credit: Roger Hanlon Curled tentacle of the longfin inshore squid, D. pealeii from local waters for an international community of researchers. The Marine Biological Laboratory collects D. pealeii have led to major advances in neurobiology, including description of the fundamental mechanisms of neurotransmission. Credit: Karen Crawford Doryteuthis pealeii, often called the Woods Hole squid. These embryos were injected with CRISPR-Cas9 at different times before the first cell division, resulting in mosaic embryos with different degrees of knockout. Ring of mosaic squid hatchlings (Doryteuthis pealeii). Joining Ira to talk about the news are Crawford and her co-lead on the research, Josh Rosenthal, a senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Crawford explains this modification has huge implications for the study of genetics: Squids’ big brains mean this work could hold the key to breakthroughs in research for human genetic diseases, like Huntington’s disease and cystic fibrosis. “I’m like a kid in a candy store with how much opportunity there is now,” says Karen Crawford, one of the researchers and a biology professor at St. Scientists here recently thrilled the genetics world by announcing they’ve successfully knocked out a gene in squid for the first time. The ocean here is flush with marine life, so it’s the perfect home for the Marine Biological Laboratory, an international center for research.
Out on the southwest corner of Cape Cod lies the town of Woods Hole. The pigment in its eyes are also lighter. The bottom squid was injected with CRISPR-Cas9 targeting the pigmentation gene that causes the spots, before that squid’s first cell division. The top inshore squid hatchling is unmodified and has spots.
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