Squid vs octopus
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Sequencing these three cephalopod genomes, never mind comparing them, was a tour de force effort funded by the Grass Foundation that took place over several years in labs around the world. In Albertin et al., published this week, the team analyzed and compared the genomes of three cephalopod species - two squids ( Doryteuthis pealeii and Euprymna scolopes) and an octopus ( Octopus bimaculoides). By understanding the cephalopod genome, we can gain insight into the genes that are important in setting up the nervous system, as well as into neuronal function." Another is the soft-bodied cephalopods, which serve as a separate example for how a large and complicated nervous system can be put together. "Large and elaborate brains have evolved a couple of times," said co-lead author Caroline Albertin, Hibbitt Fellow at the MBL. Scientists from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, the University of Vienna, the University of Chicago, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology and the University of California, Berkeley, reported their findings in two new studies in Nature Communications. Along the way, they discovered cephalopod genomes are as weird as the animals are. Now, scientists have dug into the cephalopod genome to understand how these unusual animals came to be.