Re-Examining The Gene Editing Process Through The Lens Of A Longfin Inshore Squid

Squid have long been a key organism for deepening the understanding of how nerves transmit signals. They have been passed over for gene-editing studies, however, as their genes were thought to be intractable. But a group of researchers led by Joshua Rosenthal, a biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, has found that longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis pealeii) can modify their RNA outside of their nerve cells’ nuclei. Squid are the only animal known to be capable of this process, making them crucial to gene editing research.

RNA strings, called messenger RNA (mRNA), carry a cell’s blueprints for building proteins. All creatures can edit their own RNA, but these changes usually occur inside the nucleus — where the genetic information is sequestered — before being exported. The squid, however, can make genetic edits within their cytoplasm, the jellylike material that comprises much of a cell. This means they can alter their mRNA on demand, producing proteins tailored to meet a cell’s need and honing crucial cell processes.