This is incredibly interesting

[solarbird]

Multicellular anoxic marine life. Entirely anaerobic conditions but still multicellular. God damn I'd like to see one of these in a scope myself. The cellular structure must be made of crazy. Provisional paper here, and there are lots of lovely figures!

Um, if none of this means anything to you; anaerobic bacteria - bacteria which don't use oxygen - have been around forever, dominated the earth for billions of years, turned the atmosphere from CO₂ into mostly oxygen, wiped most of themselves out in the process. Like they say, "oops." They're still around, hiding out in places without much oxygen, which is for them poisonous. (To, um, oversimplify.)

These little guys are multicellular. There's been no evidence for this before but these guys are tiny animals. This is crazytalk! And yet: apparently real! They don't have mitochondria, they have what the paper describes as "hydrogenosome-like organelles" similar to some found in some unrelated single-celled eukaryotes but...

Anyway, it's neat, and a big surprise, and the paper is really quite readable, so go take a look.

Comments

[bradhicks.livejournal.com]

So what you're saying is, "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it"?

[jonathankorman.livejournal.com]

Ha! That was the expression I was looking for.

[solarbird]

uh, yeah! That.

[oh6.livejournal.com]

What gets to me is that there are 3 different genera of these things, and the implication that not all animals in the phylum are exclusively anaerobic. Which suggests that they evolved to that state rather than being so all along, which would be pretty interesting.

[solarbird]

Yes! Or possibly the other way! We don't know yet! I'd find it even more interesting if they went multicellular as anaerobes, and some genera adopted oxygen processing, but it's all very odd either way!

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! It makes the search for life on other planets that much more interesting.

[maellenkleth]

I'm sure we'll find them under rocks in, say, Mississippi.

Seriously, though, multicellular obligate anaerobes (as opposed to merely facultative anaerobes) is a Big Discovery.

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

turned the atmosphere from CO2 into mostly oxygen, wiped most of themselves out in the process.

Fortunately for them, we're doing the same thing in reverse!

[waywind.livejournal.com]

And the anaerobic inherit the earth.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Well, it's interesting to note that my biology textbook says that hydrogenosomes are "degenerate michtochondria" that have further evolved away some features.

I'd be fascinated to know if the hydrogenosomes in these suckers are at all related to those we find in other eukaryotes, or if we've stumbled upon yet another sugar/ATP transformation that doesn't involve oxygen yet can power something with some level of cellular specialization.

Can we farm them?

[bruce9999999.livejournal.com]

Giant Co2-filled greenhouses to raise my mutant anaerobic multicellular minions must be built now!

[batyatoon]

*reads*


... DUDE.

[solarbird]

I know, right?! O.o