By Karen Brown / New England Public Media
In the past few years, scientists have learned how to manipulate an organism’s DNA to try to cure genetic disorders.
But there’s another type of genetic material that scientists are focusing on — RNA — which played a critical role in the COVID vaccines.
Today, scientists across Massachusetts are conducting RNA research on marine animals they hope will lead to better therapeutics for humans.
Squid as a model organism
On a recent sunny morning, scientist Josh Rosenthal was waiting on a dock in Woods Hole, on the southwest corner of Cape Cod.
Rosenthal, who works at the Marine Biological Laboratory, was checking in with the crew of the Gemma, a 50-foot research vessel that was about to go out for the day.
The crew catches marine animals that scientists study to help understand basic biology; they’re known as "model organisms."
On this day, they’re looking out for cephalopods, a marine category that includes squid and octopus, which are then held in tanks in a nearby building.
Rosenthal reached into one of the tanks and pulled out a translucent substance.
“You see those little jelly-like fingers down there? Those are each filled with 50 to 100 (squid) eggs," he said.
Rosenthal’s lab is focused on an even smaller stage; he studies cephalopods to understand the role of genetics in behavior, disease and physical sensations.
“Squid and octopus are by far the most behaviorally sophisticated invertebrates out there,” Rosenthal said.
He said their large, complex nervous systems rival many mammals, which is in part related to their RNA.
RNA is the molecule that carries instructions from DNA — the body’s genetic blueprint — into the cells to make proteins.
For a long time, scientists thought that transfer of information was always fairly direct, that the DNA was converted into an identical version of itself in RNA.
“But we know now that that's not always true, and that actually the information itself can be edited,” Rosenthal said.