Cephalopod Poem for PZ

This is cool, but let's not get sidetracked with any non-RNA talk. These creatures can change their color amazingly fast. A few years ago I checked out a guy's papers who's been studying them (in oregon I can get a link tonight). He focuses on neuropeptides, but hey - what about the RNA? Some really interesting transcripts have got to be in a quiescent state and explode into a translationally active state during these color/mood changing times.
-BC

Some really interesting transcripts have got to be in a quiescent state and explode into a translationally active state during these color/mood changing times.

I can see the RO1 right now ... "I propose to spear various cephalopods in various coloration states, extract their RNA, perform RT PCR and detect the change in transcription profile over a cephalopod-derived EST micro array. By comparing expression patterns in the different states, I expect to identify the genes responsible for coral, rock, magenta and cyan coloration."

One more comment on your comment ...

These creatures can change their color amazingly fast.

Yeah I was debating whether to replace "Some" with "Sometimes" ... stylistically I felt that "some" was on the minimalist side, "sometimes" was verbose. I now have regrets, and it's not that "sometimes" is more accurate, it has a playful yet sure fire sound not found in the sound of "some".

Hilarious, you're killing me. can you be on my grant committee someday?

someday in the future...

"Dear junior Professor Cubbins, We regret to inform you that your grant will not be funded. Besides being verbose and not playful enough, the idea really sucked. Don't take it personally, we're sure that you're a good guy."