DoomsdaysCW<p>Octopuses may be so terrifyingly smart because they share humans' genes for intelligence</p><p>Genetic sequences called transposons help regulate learning.</p><p>By Donavyn Coffey<br>last updated November 14, 2022</p><p>"Octopuses are brainy creatures with sophisticated smarts, and now scientists have uncovered a clue that may partly explain the cephalopods' remarkable intelligence: Its genes have a genetic quirk that is also seen in humans, a new study finds.</p><p>"The clues that scientists uncovered are called 'jumping genes,' or transposons, and they make up 45% of the human genome. Jumping genes are short sequences of DNA with the ability to copy and paste or cut and paste themselves to another location in the genome, and they've been linked to the evolution of genomes in multiple species. Genetic sequencing recently revealed that two species of octopus — Octopus vulgaris and Octopus bimaculoides — also have genomes that are filled with transposons, according to a study published May 18 in the journal BMC Biology.</p><p>"In both humans and octopuses, most transposons are dormant, either shut down due to mutations or blocked from replicating by cellular defenses, the study authors reported. But one kind of transposon in humans, known as the Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements or LINE, may still be active. Evidence from prior studies suggests that LINE jumping genes are tightly regulated by the brain, but are still important for learning (opens in new tab) and for memory formation in the hippocampus."'</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FactoryFarming" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>FactoryFarming</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Octopuses" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Octopuses</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Octopi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Octopi</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IntelligentLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IntelligentLife</span></a> </p><p>Read more: <a href="https://www.livescience.com/jumping-genes-octopus-intelligence" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">livescience.com/jumping-genes-</span><span class="invisible">octopus-intelligence</span></a></p>