Evolution of a core ribosomal innovation in octopus leading to less error prone proteins

Amazing stuff!

"Octopuses are among the strangest creatures on Earth—right down to their molecules. New research has found that octopuses of a certain lineage have a mutation not seen in any other organism that makes their cellular machinery extremely accurate at creating proteins. As a result, their proteins are less likely to form toxic clumps. ...

The team serendipitously discovered a change in the octopus gene encoding ribosomal RNA (rRNA), which is part of the cellular machinery that translates mRNA messages into proteins. This region of the rRNA sequence is identical in every other known organism, from humans to bacteria. But in octopuses, the mutation causes the rRNA to break into two fragments and occurs right at a crucial spot where the rRNA matches the right amino acid to the right genetic instruction. Ribosomes with this break made about 50% fewer errors than other species’ ribosomes when incorporating amino acids into a protein. ..."

From the abstract:

"Much of biology focuses on how genetic changes mediate new functions, but less attention is given to adaptations in other steps of the central dogma.

Octopuses exhibit complex nervous systems and sophisticated behaviors that rival vertebrates, but via an entirely divergent evolutionary history.

Here, we serendipitously discovered that octopus ribosomes contain a structural break in the core ribosomal RNA that is unique among all animals.

This break site enhances translation fidelity to reduce miscoding and subsequent protein aggregation, even when engineered into evolutionarily distant bacterial ribosomes.

Furthermore, high fidelity translation by octopus ribosomes supports proteomic stability during extensive RNA editing observed in cephalopods, suggesting synergy between distinct non-canonical modes of gene regulation.

This adaptation emerged in recently derived octopuses with expanded nervous systems, thereby revealing a mechanism that could broadly support the evolution of novel organismal traits."

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A molecular quirk unique to octopuses makes them better at building proteins

Adaptive Innovation in the Octopus Ribosome (PhD dissertation by one of the involved researchers, 2025)

Evolution of a core ribosomal innovation in octopus (preprint, open access)

Figure 1. The octopus has a unique structural adaptation in the conserved ribosomal core