Can anyone explain the Turritopsis Dohrnii to me? The “immortal jellyfish, and one of the only immortal animals that we know of, but how? If it’s considered living then how does it not die?
In: Biology
Question for someone a bit more versed in the biology literature than myself, do we actually know if T. Dohrnii is actually taking differentiated cells and reverting them back to the undifferentiated cell, or do the differentiated cells simply die off and are replaced by undifferentiated cells?
It seems to me that the term “immortal” in any species capable of asexual reproduction is a bit meaningless unless they are actually turning differentiated cells back into undifferentiated cells.
Any organism capable of asexual reproduction can create a new version of itself that will be genetically identical. If that process happens at exactly the same time as the “parent” is dying, then how do we differentiate between it rejuvenating itself and simple reproduction (and death) of a single new (old) organism?
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