The secret of immortality? It hides in a hydrozoan of the Oceanidae family, the "Turritopsis nutricula", commonly known as the immortal jellyfish, the only known animal capable of returning to the state of polyp after reaching the stage of adult jellyfish, in other words, returning young. This jellyfish, originally from the Caribbean, but now widespread all over the world, in fact leads a regular cycle of life, up to sexual maturation, and then returns to its original polyp state.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
The secret of immortality? It hides in a hydrozoan of the Oceanidae family, the "Turritopsis nutricula“, Commonly known as immortal jellyfish, the only known animal capable of returning to the polyp state after reaching the adult jellyfish stage, in other words becoming young again. This jellyfish, originally from the Caribbean, but now widespread all over the world, in fact leads a regular cycle of life, up to the sexual maturation, to then return to the original polyp state.
The process is defined as "Transdifferentiation" (or transdifferentiation), i.e. a change of cellular type by a cell already at least partially differentiated, which undergoes a sort of regression to a totipotent phase (i.e. capable of giving life to more types of cells), from which multiply and differentiate into different cells. It's kind of, in a way, what happened to Benjamin Button, the protagonist of the homonymous film played by Brad Pitt who, once he became old, regressed until he became a newborn again. Or, again, it is as if a butterfly returned to the caterpillar stage.
Foto: New York Time / Takashi Murai
In reality, it is a phenomenon known also for some animals capable of regenerating large parts of their organism in a functionally efficient way (such as salamanders, capable of regenerating entire limbs). But in the "Turritopsis nutricula", which has a bell shape with a maximum diameter of 4-5 millimeters with a uniformly thin mesoglea (gelatine), with some thickening at the top, this actually means make death impossible. Because, at least in theory, the cycle could repeat itself indefinitely, unless it is eaten by other sea predators.
The discovery of the sensational "rebirth" is due to a team of biologists fromUniversity of Lecce and the CNR. Accidentally noticing the process, back in 1999, were Professor Ferdinando Boero, professor of zoology and marine biology at the University of Lecce, and Stefano Piraino, of the CNR "A.Cerruti" Thalassographic Institute of Taranto.
At this point the obligatory question is: did the two scientists really discover the secret of immortality?
Roberta Ragni
READ also:
- Jellyfish: swimming with the lungs of the sea (photos and videos)
- Jellyfish: they increase due to pollution
