# DNA experiments on invertebrates **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127 "2014-05-23T21:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/1 "2014-05-23T21:12:08Z")
I kind of thought by now the results of weird experiments would have started trickling in where DNA manipulation was being used. So far I have seen nothing that caught my attention. Any news in this area? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/2 "2014-05-23T21:34:26Z")
There has been plenty of genetic manipulation being done in laboratories for years now. Most of the results are not all that “weird” or spectacular. You can (and they do) change, or introduce, a gene here or there, but if you mess too much with an organisms DNA you are going to kill it. What sort of things were you expecting? You don’t get science fiction type mutants, and most scientists are not interested in “weird”, they are interested in useful, either useful in the laboratory, for further experiments, or useful commercially, like genetically modified crop plants. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/3 "2014-05-23T21:41:57Z")
I wasn’t really expecting anything in particular beyond oddities that might pop up durring the course of normal research. It could be oddities that affected behavior or physical oddities. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/4 "2014-05-23T22:05:46Z")
If you pull the front legs off of male fruit flies, they become bisexual and into bestiality, if that floats your boat at all. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/5 "2014-05-24T00:36:53Z")
They’ve now put glow-in-the-dark genes into rabbits and cats- that’s pretty weird. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/6 "2014-05-24T00:39:04Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > They’ve now put glow-in-the-dark genes into rabbits and cats- that’s pretty weird. Invertebrate rabbits and cats, now that would be something. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/7 "2014-05-24T02:09:10Z")
Not DNA manipulation, but good, old fashioned genetics: discovery of homeobox genes. These genes are what give different segments of bodies identity. This part will be a head, wings, abdomen etc. In fruit flies, you can mutate these genes to switch identity and get effects like legs growing where antennae should, just by mutating a single gene. Antennapedia locus: > **[Antennapedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antennapedia)** > > Antennapedia (abbreviated Antp) is a Hox gene first discovered in Drosophila which controls the formation of legs during development. Loss-of-function mutations in the regulatory region of this gene result in the development of the second leg pair into ectopic antennae. By contrast gain-of-function alleles convert antennae into ectopic legs. > This is just one illustration of the tendency of organisms to exhibit variations on a theme: modulated repetition. Legs and antennae are related to one ano... Humans have these genes, too. It helps pattern the embryo to set identity from head to foot of different body regions. Hox (homeobox) genes: [Hox gene - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hox_gene) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/8 "2014-05-25T15:57:58Z")
I’m surprised you didn’t find the Hox genes stuff interesting. I thought it’d be up your alley. Ah, well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/9 "2014-05-25T16:07:56Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I’m surprised you didn’t find the Hox genes stuff interesting. I thought it’d be up your alley. Ah, well. Apparently HoneyBadger don’t care! ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/10 "2014-05-25T16:42:58Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Apparently HoneyBadger don’t care! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/11 "2014-05-25T18:26:46Z")
Where’s our giant octoscorpions dammit?! Kim Jong-un’s screaming for his back order. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/12 "2014-05-25T20:39:00Z")
There’s some interesting research being done on the genetics of [neural development in cephalopods](http://www.devbio.biology.gatech.edu/?page_id=1369) with an eye towards developing treatments for paralysis or even the possibility of limb regeneration. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-experiments-on-invertebrates/689127/13 "2014-05-25T20:44:13Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > There’s some interesting research being done on the genetics of [neural development in cephalopods](http://www.devbio.biology.gatech.edu/?page_id=1369) with an eye towards developing treatments for paralysis or even the possibility of limb regeneration. That was a good link, thank you.