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Genetic code enables zebrafish to mend damaged organs (caltech.edu)
115 points by bookofjoe 44 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 14 comments


Genetic code enables lizards to regrow their tails.


I have also used genetic code to repair my epidermis with a fibrous tissue after injury. It keeps moisture in and pathogens out.


This but a scratch


Genetic code enables me to understand that reference.


Future humans will be part human, part lizard, part zebra fish, and seveal other species. We will regrow teeth, heart, and limbs. Sometimes we might accidentally grow a tail.


We do already...sometimes. Vestigial tail


To a certain extent. Often times the regenerated "tails" are fatty stubs.


The related publication is unfortunately paywalled, but here’s the preprint: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.16.633462v1


We really have to ask why humans did not evolve to have this capability before trying to jig one up


Because nothing comes without a cost. Maybe mutations that would allow us to regrow limbs also lead to horrific cancers that snuffed out any chance for reproduction. Maybe the benefit didn't outweigh the additional energy budget. Maybe it was just not necessary for procreation vs our advanced cognition so it never played into evolutionary fitness (compared to a lizard that can drop a tail when it's attacked, and regrow it for the neYt attack, which would surely improve its evolutionary fitness).

Additional reasons: our mammalian organs are highly complex, we live a long time, we are large animals with giant brains and high metabolic cost. The list goes on.


In some ways evolution is inevitable but it is also a stroke of luck. The mutation behind the phenotype needs to actually happen. Then the mutant individual needs to actually have outsized reproductive success such that their progeny outcompetes with others and these mutant alleles spread in the population.


Two words: nocturnal bottleneck.


Don’t know why this was downvoted. It’s a compelling hypothesis.


"Zebrafish mends damaged organs using Genetics and Code."

    if (organIsDamaged()) {
        dont();
    }




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