Researchers have discovered the first known animal that does not need oxygen to survive. It is a small parasite called Henneguya salminicolawhich lives in the tissue of fish and belongs to the group of jellyfish and corals.
Unlike other multicellular organisms, this parasite does not have mitochondria, the cellular structures that process oxygen to produce energy. Instead, H. salminicola has developed a way to obtain energy without the need for oxygen, adapting to its unique environment.
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This finding challenges previous theories about the essential requirements for multicellular life. lScientists discovered that the parasite has lost not only its mitochondria, but also its mitochondrial genome, which means that it has evolved to completely do without oxygen, ScienceAlert publishes.
The discovery was carried out through genetic analysis and advanced microscopy, revealing that this organism is capable of thriving in anaerobic environments. This advance not only changes the understanding of basic biology, but also has implications for the search for life on other planets, where conditions could be very different from those on Earth.
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesand its authors hope that this research will inspire new questions about how multicellular organisms can live in the absence of oxygen.
(Stephen Douglas Atkinson
