A scientist in Japan made a chance and lurid discovery when they see that a ocean slug in their lab had misplace its psyche . Expected to wither forth without its lively organ , the head surprised everyone by surviving long enough togrow a whole new body . How ? Well , it seemed they ’d gone solar - power .
Among the Sacoglossan sea slugs , we see a phenomenon known as kleptoplasty in which some species are able to comprise the photosynthetic superpowers of plant by rust alga and incorporate its cells into their own tissues . Yes , it seems the sacoglossans throw up something of an anomaly when it comes to that honest-to-goodness game “ creature , vegetable , mineral , ” being an fauna that boasts one of the earmark ofleafy gullible flora .
One of the most noteworthy case of this is the sea slugElysia chlorotica , which has the byname “ a leaf that crawls ” , and it ’s easy to see why . Confirmed kleptoplasts , they have specialized mouthparts that enable them to give suck the chloroplasts out of alga and store them in their own digestive jail cell for months , put them to act upon for long than even the algae would have . steal the photosynthetic cells from their food not only enables these slugs to become solar - powered , but it can also double up as camouflage .
It all sound very telling , but is n’t it a bit too simple ? How can it be that the cells from one being can just on the spur of the moment be put to work in something whole different ? It ’s a good interrogative sentence , and one enkindle by scientist studyingElysiain a2014 study .
" There is no way on ground that genes from an algae should forge inside an brute cell,“saidSidney Pierce from the University of South Florida . " And yet here , they do . They allow the animal to rely on sunshine for its victuals . So if something happens to their food source , they have a fashion of not starving to death until they chance more algae to eat up . "
Prior to Pierce and workfellow ’ research , we did n’t know how the ocean slug were able to store and make use of the slip chloroplast , but DNA gain , sequencing , and advanced imaging technique revealed a genetic mechanism that could explain it . They discovered that one of several algal genes want to doctor damage to chloroplasts and keep them functioning is present on the slug ’s chromosome . It pock one of the first times this form of functional cistron transfer from one multicellular species to another had been name , bringing with it a raw appreciation of what it take for a sluggard to become a leaf .
Now if only I could harness thelong lifeofTwinkies .
