Squids edit genetic directions extensively
RNA altered in 57,000 spots to create proteins not coded in DNA
DOCTORING DNA’S DIRECTIONS The longfin inshore squid edits more than half of the RNA that codes for proteins in its nervous system.
Roger Hanlon, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA
A species of squid can alter vast amounts of its genetic instructions after they are copied from DNA into RNA, a study reported January 8 in eLife finds.