[HN Gopher] Genetic code enables zebrafish to mend damaged organs
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Genetic code enables zebrafish to mend damaged organs
        
       Author : bookofjoe
       Score  : 102 points
       Date   : 2025-06-29 01:00 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.caltech.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.caltech.edu)
        
       | zombot wrote:
       | Genetic code enables lizards to regrow their tails.
        
         | sidewndr46 wrote:
         | I have also used genetic code to repair my epidermis with a
         | fibrous tissue after injury. It keeps moisture in and pathogens
         | out.
        
           | dietr1ch wrote:
           | This but a scratch
        
             | lawlessone wrote:
             | Genetic code enables me to understand that reference.
        
         | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
         | 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.
        
           | ecef9-8c0f-4374 wrote:
           | We do already...sometimes. Vestigial tail
        
         | MangoToupe wrote:
         | To a certain extent. Often times the regenerated "tails" are
         | fatty stubs.
        
       | flobosg wrote:
       | The related publication is unfortunately paywalled, but here's
       | the preprint:
       | https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.16.633462v1
        
       | taneq wrote:
       | "Zebrafish mends damaged organs using Genetics and Code."
       | if (organIsDamaged()) {             dont();         }
        
       | sydbarrett74 wrote:
       | Two words: nocturnal bottleneck.
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | We really have to ask why humans did not evolve to have this
       | capability before trying to jig one up
        
         | danielbln wrote:
         | 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.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2025-07-01 23:01 UTC)