1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Volga bomb here. Three billion years ago, 3 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: things on Earth were different. For one thing, there wasn't 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,439 Speaker 1: all this oxygen all over the place. The first cyanobacteria 5 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,279 Speaker 1: had to figure out a way to live on volcanic 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight alone. These old timey organisms 7 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: lived anaerobically, that is, without oxygen. Strangely enough, what we're 8 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: breathing today is the type of atmosphere that they made 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,200 Speaker 1: possible for us. Because the byproduct that they excreted oxygen, 10 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: eventually overtook Earth's atmosphere. Any remaining anaerobic organisms were forced 11 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: into the oxygen less nooks and crannies of the planet 12 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: and kept simple and single celled. However, when there's a rule, 13 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: there's usually an exception, and a group of scientists have 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: discovered a small parasitic niderian that is a tip of 15 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: a jellyfish that apparently doesn't use oxygen to breathe. They 16 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: publish their findings in the February issue of the Proceedings 17 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: of the National Academy of Sciences. This animal, taxonomical name 18 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: Hanagaya salmon acola, is a tiny parasite with a long 19 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: tail that feeds on the muscle tissue of salmon and 20 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:24,759 Speaker 1: other fish. It's a eukaryote, which just means that it's 21 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: a member of a broad group of organisms that includes 22 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: most of the living things that you can see with 23 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: your naked eye animals, plants, fungi, et cetera. The cells 24 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: of eukaryotes contain all sorts of fancy organelles that they 25 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: are more primitive counterparts the prokaryotes don't have. One of 26 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: those organelles is the mitochondrian, a structure that has a 27 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: tiny genome all of its own, separate from the rest 28 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: of the organism, and which eukaryotic cells use to produce 29 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: energy with the help of oxygen. But within the larger 30 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: groups that we call eukaryotes, there are a few single 31 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: celled non animal species that are anaerobic. They don't have mitochondria, 32 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:12,679 Speaker 1: but rather something that scientists call mitochondrian related organelles. Annagaya 33 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: salmnicola is the first animal to have this feature. It's 34 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: all very strange, so how did they get this way? 35 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: For the article this episode is based on how Stuff Works. 36 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: Spoke with study co author Stephen Atkinson a research professor 37 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: in the Department of Microbiology at Oregon State University. He said, 38 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: the ancestors of Hanna Guia almost certainly had mitochondria. All 39 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: its closest relatives have mitochondria, so the evolution to an 40 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: anaerobic lifestyle and the loss of functional mitochondria appears to 41 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: be a recent adaptation of that species alone, at least 42 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: that we know of so far. In the cells of 43 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: typical animals, the mitochondria use oxygen in a multi step 44 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: process to create chemical energy. The research team found that 45 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: this parasite has just had to adapt to an environment 46 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: with very little available oxygen. Without the need for mitochondria, 47 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: it lost the genetic instructions for at least several parts 48 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,920 Speaker 1: of the processes that use oxygen. So by losing that 49 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: mitochondrial genome, the parasite saves energy by not having to 50 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,519 Speaker 1: copy genes for things that no longer needs. But how 51 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: can it survive without oxygen in the first place, Atkinson said, 52 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: we presume that it must instead absorb molecules related to 53 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: energy production from the host cells, which have already done 54 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: part of the processing. Stealing something from the host is 55 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: fundamental to parasitism. Like many important discoveries. This finding was 56 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,920 Speaker 1: totally unexpected. The researchers were hoping to compare the genomes 57 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: of two small parasites, but each time they tried to 58 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: run that of the Hanagaya salmonicola, something was obviously very weird. 59 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: Looking into it further, they found itsels contained a little 60 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: empty bag where a mitochondria and might once have been. 61 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: Atkinson said, this discovery has expanded our understanding of what 62 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: it means to be an animal by showing that even 63 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: complex life can evolve in a way to succeed in 64 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: environments without oxygen. Knowing that anaerobic animals can exist alerts 65 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: us to the fact that we must be on the 66 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: lookout for this and other species and maybe look in 67 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: anaerobic environments for animals where we never would have looked before. 68 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: Specifically from mixing zoan parasite research. It means we will 69 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 1: look for unusual or missing mitochondria in other species from 70 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: now on to try and discover the connections between hosts, 71 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: tissue and environment that lead to loss of mitochondrial function 72 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: to take advantage of anaerobic metabolism. The discovery of anaerobic 73 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: mechanisms in these parasites could also open a new avenue 74 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 1: for treatment, as specific drugs have been used to target 75 00:04:52,880 --> 00:05:01,359 Speaker 1: other anaerobic parasites. Today's episode is based on the article 76 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: can you live without oxygen? This animal can on how 77 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot Com. Written by Jesslan Shields. Brain Stuff is 78 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: a production of Our Heart Radio in partnership with how 79 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clain. 80 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart 81 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 82 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: favorite shows.