The ocean’s mysteries are still largely unknown to mankind. There are thousands of unknown species and inexplicable phenomena that the ocean hides beneath its waters. In 1988, as a German marine biology student that was studying hydrozoans in the Italian Riviera collected various specimens for his research, he came upon the Turritopsis dohrnii, now referred to as the immortal jellyfish. Christian Sommer, noted after observing the specimen that it didn’t die, instead it reversed its life cycle growing younger. This is the story that Nathaniel Rich details in the NY Times Article, Can a Jellyfish Unlock the Secret of Immortality.
Sommer’s research was continued later in Genoa by a group of scientists in 1996 resulting in a publication “Reversing the Life Cycle” which asserts that the immortal jellyfish, “could transform itself back to a polyp, the organism’s earliest stage of life…thus escaping death and achieving potential immortality.” While it might seem that researchers and other interested parties would devote many resources to the extraction of the secrets of the immortal jellyfish, it is quite the contrary. The article mainly follows a scientist, Shin Kubota, who is one of the few who studies and cultures the immortal jellyfish.
The immortal jellyfish is still shrouded in mystery. Though scientists have been able to make some realizations regarding its rejuvenation process, which seems to occur during environmental stress or physical assault. Kubota demonstrates the rejuvenation in the article by mutilating (stabbing) a specimen 50 times. After mutilation the immortal jellyfish, which as an adult medusa is about half an inch in size, begins the process of rejuvenation. This process happens naturally when it becomes old or ill though there are some inhibiting conditions that Kubota discovered such as starvation and water with a temperature less than 72 degrees.
An adult medusa usually produces eggs or sperm which in turn create larvae that form new polyps. Generally after this it should die, however it sinks to the ocean floor and the bell of the jellyfish absorbs the tentacles and assumes a gelatinous form. During several days it forms an outer shell and shoots out stolons that grow and become a polyp which creates new medusas, beginning the life cycle again.
While scientists like Kubota would argue that hydrozoans are perfect specimens to study miRNA because they are simple organisms and miRNA are imperative in their biological development not all scientists agree that they hold the key to immortality or that researching the species is a very worthwhile endeavor. It is difficult to obtain funding for experiments and research, as the jellyfish is not seen as having a direct relationship to humans. For example Daniel Martínez, a biologist at Pomona College and one of the world’s leading hydroid scholars, argues that while to study the Turritopsis is worthwhile he doubts it will provide much insight about humans.
While the species has been found from the Mediterranean to as distant as Japan and Florida, surviving in every ocean around the world it is hard to determine the future of its research. With little or no funding being put into projects such as Kubota’s it will be difficult to fully unlock the mysteries that the immortal jellyfish and the ocean at large hold. Maybe it’s better that way?