Most animals grow old and die. But there are a few exceptions such as the hydra. A tiny, soft-bodied freshwater animal, the tentacle hydra remains youthful because of its regenerative abilities. It carries powerful stem cells which are capable of continuous division, making the hydra renew its body with fresh cells.
Unlike most animals that must worry about old age, disease, or losing a limb, a hydra can constantly replace damaged parts of itself. In certain cases, an entirely new animal can grow from a detached chunk of hydra tissue. On average, they replace all their cells every 20 days, reports Discover magazine’s Katharine Gammon.
Though earlier studies have uncovered some of the secrets behind hydra tissue regeneration, researchers are still looking for answers about how the animal directs its cells to sprout a new head where one was lost. Learning more about the process of regeneration in animals like hydra could potentially lead to new insights about human development, too. In an effort to understand the genetic basis behind the ability, Mortazavi and his colleague Aide Macias-Munoz looked at which genes are switched on and off during head regeneration and how those genes are controlled.
Credit : Smithsonian
Picture Credit : Google
