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Cephalopod Sex Chromosomes

1:27:24 recording · AUTO · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

Federal science funding is being dismantled while new octopus genomics shows sex determination is anything but immutable.

  1. Confidence without competence is collapsing the funding systemElde's frame for the cuts: billions delayed at NIH, whole programs pulled, and universities squeezed over unrelated grievances.
  2. You cannot switch a research lab back onTake away the grants and the trained people leave; Racaniello calls the light-switch notion complete nonsense and the cuts vindictive.
  3. Cephalopod sex chromosomes are the oldest known, roughly 480 million yearsFemale octopus is Z0, male ZZ, conserved across squid and cuttlefish, while most other sex chromosomes turn over rapidly.
Executive Summary AI
  • Nels Elde opens with the one hopeful sign he sees: a grassroots Stand Up for Science rally organized nationally by five graduate students, with more than 1,000 people on the south steps of the Utah state capitol on short notice on a Friday afternoon.4:54
  • Citing Jeremy Berg's dashboard, Elde reports NIH is more than $2 billion behind on non-competing grant distributions out of about $4 billion earmarked, another $2 billion down on competing grants, with $400 million at stake at Columbia ($250 million of it NIH) and $175 million at Penn, while Vincent Racaniello notes COVID grantees were emailed by NIH that the pandemic is over.8:58
  • The paper of the day is Cephalopod Sex Determination and its Ancient Evolutionary Origin, first author Gabrielle Koffing and senior author Andy Kern at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon in Eugene, supported by four federal grants: an NSF graduate fellowship, an R35 and two R01s.22:54
  • Using PacBio long-read sequencing, full-length cDNA and Hi-C, the team assembled 30 chromosomes of the two-spot octopus and found females carry only half as many reads for chromosome 17, making them Z0 hemizygous while males are ZZ, a pattern shared with four other cephalopod species and dated to at least 480 million years ago.43:00
  • For picks, Elde takes an NPR story on a PNAS paper showing high-quality audio makes speakers seem more attractive and convincing, while Racaniello picks a New York Times report by Teddy Rosenbluth on West Texas parents dosing children with vitamin A and cod liver oil after RFK Jr.'s advice, sending kids to the emergency room with liver damage.1:13:56
Key Quote
“I see a lot of confidence that they're doing all the right things, but no competence underneath it.”
— Nels Elde7:26
Key Quote
“Cutting it off shows vindictiveness.”
— Vincent Racaniello11:50
Key Quote
“You can pull out one piece and maybe the tower will still stand.”
— Nels Elde24:51