The Immortality of Turritopsis Nutricula and Its Possible Implications on Man

The Immortality of Turritopsis nutricula and its Possible Implications on Man

Topic: The Immortality of Turritopsis nutricula and its Possible Implications on Man

Outline:

I. Introduction

II. Body

1) Description of Turritopsis nutricula

2) T. nutricula's life cycle

3) Possible Implications on Man

a) In the field of science and medicine

b) Aging

c) Involvement of faith concepts

III. Conclusion

1) Summary

2) Prospects for the future and

Recommendations

IV. Index

1) Comprehensive Description of Class Hydrozoa

2) Morphological and Ultrastructural analysis of Turritopsis nutricula during life cycle reversal. + PDF

3) Turritopsis nutricula + PDF

4) Other articles about the immortal jellyfish (3 articles)

I. Introduction

Everyone in this world enters and leaves. Each one has the ability to make choices and decisions, to be happy and sad, and to live and die. In other words, we are living in a dynamic world.

It has been the endless desire of man, to be young forever. Myths, stories, legends, and epics are widely spread and have paved the way for the fame of the so-called 'fountain of youth'. However, there are creatures which are able to excite the giant curiosity of science regarding this matter - the existence of "biologically immortal" creature. Hence, the discovery of the immortal jellyfish (Turritopsis nutricula). The discovery of this species, indeed, let scientists, or even ordinary people, consider that immortality is possible and that they need to go deeper into the endless search

Turritopsis nutricula is a kind of jellyfish that is known today as the only "immortal species" in the world. This organism is very lucky to be gifted with such characteristic of reversing its life cycle. It has actually escaped the shackles of biological death. They may be small in size but they are terribly increasing in number due to this biological immortality. "We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion" said Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute scientist Dr. Maria Miglietta.

Turritopsis nutricula is a hydrozoa that can revert to the sexually immature (polyp) stage after becoming sexually mature. It is the only known metazoan capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary stage (Hammond, G.2009).

The fertilized eggs develop in the stomach and in the screen formed by the cave in the jellyfish planula. The eggs are then planted on the seabed in polyp

colonies. The jellyfish hatches after two days. The jellyfish becomes sexually mature after a few weeks (the exact duration depends on the ocean temperature;

at 20oC it is 25-30 days and at 22oC it is 18-22 days) (Hongbao Ma, 2010).

This is possible through a process called transdifferentation. Transdifferentation is the alteration of the differentiated state of the cell and transforming it into a new cell. It is rare that it only happens in certain parts of some organisms. However, in the case of the T. nutricula, transdifferentation occurs in the jellyfish as a whole thus enabling it to have total rebirth cycle (Wendy, 2009).

The transdifferentation process happening in T. nutricula can be linked to stem cell. Since life comes from cells and cells originated from stem cell, we can conclude that stem cell is the origin of life (Hongbao Ma, 2005). It is only possible because of the capability of the stem cell to divide and produce specialized cells making it a research tool for scientists nowadays. This gave birth to an idea that stem cells can have a contribution in finding cures for cancer and other diseases. However, the idea of using stem cell has such moral controversies that made scientists biased in the T. nutricula cells for further research. This paper will try to show facts about the T. nutricula and its possible implications on man.

II. Body

1. Description of Turritopsis nutricula

Figure 2 Turritopsis nutricula

Classification

Kingdom - Animalia

Phylum - Cnidaria

Class - Hydrozoa

Order - Hydroida

Family - Clavidae

Genus - Turritopsis

Species - T. nutricula

Turritopsis nutricula was discovered by scuba divers who were collecting Hydrozoa colonies in the Cheradi Isles (Mar Piccolo of Taranto, Italy) in 1999. The researchers were able to discover the unique surviving skill of T. nutricula. In their tests, it showed that T. nutricula was able to survive after types of stress and when the exposure of medusae to temperature rises from 30oC than normal 22oC, 80% of medusae activated life cycle reversion (E.C. Carla' et al, 2003). The T. nutricula's unlikely characteristics made the scientists consider it unique.

Turritopsis nutricula is a Hydrozoan, which is a class of Cnidarians including the Portuguese Man-of- War, Hydra, and freshwater jellyfish. Hydrozoans are, for the most part, colonial animals. T. nutricula is a colonial organism as a polyp, though it is an independent, pelagic creature (Hongbao Ma, 2010).

Turritopsis nutricula is about 5 mm in diameter in sexually mature stage. They have 8-24 tentacles when they are young and up to 90 tentacles as mature adults. Shaped like a bell, their external walls are transparent and their stomachs are large and have a distinctive red color (Hongbao Ma,