Scientists Discovered the First Animal That Doesn't Need Oxygen to Survive

 

 

Scientists Discovered the First Animal That Doesn't Need Oxygen to Survive:

Research has upended the belief that all life needs oxygen to survive. Scientists discovered a jellyfish-like parasite that lives entirely without oxygen.

 

This tiny organism, Henneguya salminicola, has no mitochondrial genome, making it the first known multicellular organism to completely abandon oxygen as a source of energy.

 

Mitochondria, the powerhouse of most cells, use oxygen to create energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). However, this parasitic cnidarian, which lives inside salmon, has evolved differently. Instead of relying on oxygen, it has shed its mitochondrial genome, along with the machinery needed for respiration. How H. salminicola survives is still unclear, but it may be absorbing ATP directly from its host.

 

This discovery not only reshapes our understanding of life on Earth but could also influence the search for life beyond our planet. If complex life can survive without oxygen here, similar organisms could potentially exist in oxygen-free environments elsewhere in the universe. 

 

This breakthrough challenges assumptions and opens exciting possibilities for the study of life

Image credit: (Stephen Douglas Atkinson)