Paudicus sawtus

Paudicus sawtus
Creator	Sneal
Information
Status	Extant
Zones	27
Roles	Parasite
Classification
Genus	Paudicus
Species	Paudicus sawtus
Evolution
Date	June 12th, 2019
Ancestor	Paudicus captus
Descendants	No results

Paudicus sawtus is descended from the Itericote Paudicus captus, a parasite of the Sea Net (Retus duoformus). It has adapted to better reproduce, as its ancestor wasunrefined. Its scientific name P. sawtus is based on its calcareous spicule, which has serrated edges to allow it to more quickly and gracefully cut the cell membrane and nucleus for entry. The serrations arose from errors in producing the spicule that caused smaller crystalline offshoots of the main spicule. Gradually these small offshoots became more uniform across the sides of the spicule because they allowed greater odds at entering a Sea Net cell eventually becoming serrations. The Sea Net will repair the entry cut by a process of exocytosis.

P. sawtus synthesizes a new protein that it expels onto the nuclear membrane right after it is cut. This protein had a sticky property helping to seal the nucleus and improve its likelihood of survival. The protein is expelled immediately, barely allowing any time for the nucleus to rupture.

When the cell ends up in the nucleus it will replace its host's DNA with its own. In P. sawtus the cell will die inside the nucleus to reduce the risk of the host dying by not creating exit wounds. The parasitized net cell will create more P. sawtus via mitosis of the net cell.