News Genetics

Squid edit their genetic material in a uniquely weird place

The ability may help the animals make specialized proteins on the fly

longfin inshore squid

Unlike other animals, longfin inshore squid can edit their genetic material outside the boundaries of a cell nucleus, where such modifications typically occur.

Roger Hanlon

By Erin Garcia de Jesús

Squid can edit their genetic information in a place scientists didn’t expect.

Longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis pealeii) are the first known animals that can tweak strings of RNA outside of a nerve cell’s nucleus. These genetic couriers, called messenger RNA, or mRNA, carry a cell’s blueprints for building proteins.