In a fascinating discovery, scientists have found that the octopus and other cephalopods like squids can edit their genes specifically their RNA. This occurs when octopuses adapt to changing environmental conditions to survive, without disturbing their basic DNA makeup.

A team from the Marine Biological Laboratory of the University of Chicago in Woods Hole and Tel Aviv University revealed that a squid could recode and edit 60 percent of its RNA transcripts. Squids apparently possess 20,000 genes, and 11,000 of them can be transformed with RNA editing.

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Apart from squids, there are other cephalopod creatures that can reprogram and edit their RNA. Two species of octopus and cuttlefish also possess the ability to edit their RNA. This type of RNA editing process only occurs when enzymes replace RNA bases among each other to help a cephalopod adapt and survive within its environment. In comparison, humans and fruit flies can recode only one percent of their RNA, while cephalopods that can entirely change 60 percent of their RNA.

According to the co-author of the study, Joshua Rosenthal from the Marine Biological Laboratory, this discovery proves that RNA editing did not begin to evolve in mollusks but is an invention of coleoid cephalopods.

"RNA editing sites in mammals are not conserved as much which are not thought to be under natural selection. This means that cephalopods possess a fundamental natural selection through many editing events that are highly conserved," Rosenthal said.

Since there is this high percentage of RNA editing in cephalopods, it means that these animals have compromised their ability for genetic evolution. Since they lack the ability to evolve, cephalopods are often thought as one of the oldest creatures in the world.

This new study about RNA editing in cephalopods was published in the journal Cell.