[Animals] The secrets of the Mexican axolotl

[-HuNTeR-]

 

link: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-42918181

 

If there is a creature that, due to its biological characteristics, has attracted the interest of scientists, it is the salamander, since it is the only vertebrate animal capable of regenerating.

In the group of these amphibians, the Mexican axolotl -or Axolótl- (Ambystoma mexicanum) stands out for its extraordinary processes to regenerate amputated limbs and other organs and tissues of the organism.

It has been observed, for example, that if these animals lose a limb, they are capable of regenerating it in a matter of weeks, with all its bones, muscles and nerves in the appropriate places.

Even more fascinating, the researchers say, is the axolotl's ability to repair its spinal cord when it is injured and make it function as if it had not been damaged.

It can also repair other tissues -such as retinal- and heal wounds without leaving scars.

Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP)

Not only that. This amphibian, which is in danger of extinction in its natural habitat, has also attracted the interest of researchers because of the relative ease with which it can reproduce.

That is why, for about 150 years, scientists have been cultivating these animals in the laboratory and trying to discover the secrets of their extraordinary biological processes and their potential applications in human medicine.

For example, in the repair of brain or spinal cord injuries and the prevention of cardiac scars.

Now an international team of scientists has discovered one of its secrets: the axolotl has the largest genome that has been sequenced to date, much larger than the human.

This amphibian has 32 billion base pairs of DNA, 10 times larger than the human genome, which has 3.2 billion base pairs of DNA.