{"id":244584,"date":"2023-05-26T19:46:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=244584"},"modified":"2023-05-26T19:46:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T14:16:28","slug":"the-tragedy-of-the-axolotl-mutant-and-its-mystery-gene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-tragedy-of-the-axolotl-mutant-and-its-mystery-gene\/","title":{"rendered":"The tragedy of the axolotl mutant and its mystery gene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Source:\u00a0<\/b>The post is based on the article<b> \u201cThe tragedy of the axolotl mutant and its mystery gene\u201d<\/b> published in <b>The Hindu <\/b>on\u00a0<b>26th May 2023<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"What_is_the_News\">What is the News?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Axolotl, a species of salamander(lizard-like amphibians) possesses an extraordinary ability to regenerate lost body parts. The elusive o (for \u201cova deficient\u201d gene) plays a pivotal role in the axolotl&#8217;s regenerative process.<\/p>\n<p>This inspired researchers to look behind its unique regenerative power.<\/p>\n<h2>What is Axolotl?<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_244589\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-244589\" style=\"width: 406px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-244589\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/The-tragedy-of-the-axolotl-mutant-and-its-mystery-gene.png?resize=406%2C351&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"axolotl\" width=\"406\" height=\"351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/The-tragedy-of-the-axolotl-mutant-and-its-mystery-gene.png?w=624&amp;ssl=1 624w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/The-tragedy-of-the-axolotl-mutant-and-its-mystery-gene.png?resize=300%2C259&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 406px) 100vw, 406px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-244589\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: The Hindu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These are amphibians that spend their whole lives underwater. They exist in the wild in only one place\u2014Lake Xochimilco near Mexico City.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Note<\/strong>: Lake Xochimilco is an ancient endorheic lake. It is a network of artificial channels, small lakes, and temporary wetlands that help supply water to nearby Mexico City\u2019s 18 million residents. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>IUCN Status<\/strong>: critically endangered.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Food<\/strong>: They feast on mollusks, worms, insect larvae, crustaceans, and some fish.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Threat<\/strong>: Even though they are amphibians, axolotls remain aquatic throughout their lives but they are now almost extinct in the wild. Their populations have declined considerably due to <strong>a)<\/strong> habitat loss due to Mexico City\u2019s continued urbanisation, <strong>b)<\/strong> water pollution, and <strong>c)<\/strong> invasive fish species such as carp and tilapia, which compete with axolotls for food and prey upon them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Unique capability<\/strong>: Axolotls, like humans, contain two copies of every gene \u2013 one inherited from the father and the other from the mother.<\/p>\n<p>Axolotls have the ability to regenerate lost body parts and have a rare trait of neoteny, which means they retain larval features throughout life. These interested cancer researchers for their unique resistance to developing cancerous tissues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source:\u00a0The post is based on the article \u201cThe tragedy of the axolotl mutant and its mystery gene\u201d published in The Hindu on\u00a026th May 2023 What is the News? The Axolotl, a species of salamander(lizard-like amphibians) possesses an extraordinary ability to regenerate lost body parts. The elusive o (for \u201cova deficient\u201d gene) plays a pivotal role&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-tragedy-of-the-axolotl-mutant-and-its-mystery-gene\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The tragedy of the axolotl mutant and its mystery gene<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182,9],"tags":[10498],"class_list":["post-244584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","category-public","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":8,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1700118833},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}