Immortal Jellyfish micro-lesson

This lesson is about the immortal jellyfish. First, these immortal jellyfish start as larva that morph into polyps. These polyps attach to something solid like coral reefs and they replicate themselves. Then the polyps bloom and from the polyps, they bloom into hundreds or thousands of jellyfish. When these jellyfish die, they absorb their tentacles and sink back to the bottom. But instead of dying, they actually turn back into polyps and start the process all over again. Immortal jellyfish can actually change their cells. This is called cellular transdifferentiation. This means they can change their jellyfish cells back to polyp cells and allow them to grow into polyps again and start the whole life cycle again. They can do this over and over again. When compared to other jellyfish, the immortal jellyfish has double the amount of genes that repair and protect DNA. For most organisms, with time, DNA strands get smaller and smaller, and this is what makes us age and eventually die. But the immortal jellyfish have mutations that preserve and protect the ends of chromosomes which are called telomeres. The extra protection of these telomeres prevents the chromosome from getting shorter and shorter and allows them to live potentially forever.