Octopus Genome Sequenced for the Very First Time, Revealing 'Alien-like' Genes

For the first time ever, researchers have sequenced the genome of the octopus, learning a bit more about this strange, underwater creature. The new effort may help explain its three hearts, eight arms, and the eerie capability to perfectly camouflage its skin with its surroundings.

Octopuses actually represent the pinnacle of an evolutionary track alternate from man in the group of cephalopods. While fellow cephalopods, such as snails and oysters, evolved equally from their common ancestor, octopuses somehow managed to develop extraordinary features.

In order to learn a bit more about octopuses, the researchers sequenced and then analyzed the genome of an octopus species, making it the first cephalopod to be decoded.

The octopus genome resembled those of other marine invertebrates in many respects. However, it also revealed unexpected features that are key to understanding the origin and the function of its unique nervous system. Cephalopod brains are elaborations of the basic invertebrate brain, and have a completely different organization than what is found in humans and other vertebrates. In fact, cephalopods emerged as predators in the ancient oceans over three hundred million years ago. In a lot of ways, the octopus was the first intelligent creature on the planet.

The octopus genome encodes several large gene families that are involved in regulation brain development in other animals, but are vastly expanded in the octopus. The detailed role, though, still remains unknown. The researchers also found hundreds of genes that are common in cephalopods but unknown in other animals.

"The octopus appears so utterly different from all other animals, even ones it's related to, that the British zoologist Martin Wells famously called in an alien," said Clifton Ragsdale, the leader of the team that worked on the octopus, in a news release. "In that sense, you could say our paper describes the first sequenced genome from an alien."

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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