Tiny tardigrades can live in conditions that would kill most other types of life. By expelling their body's water and turning it into a lifeless ball called a tun, they enter a state of suspended animation in which they can survive for decades without food and water. It's not clear what drives this protective mechanism and what keeps tardigrades from succumbing to the stresses of desiccation.
A new study shows how tardigrades are able to survive without any water at all. The strategy seen in other types of animals is different from this one.
The new research was published in the journal PLOS Biology.
Tardigrades, also known as water bears or moss piglets, are a group of tiny animals with eight legs. They can survive exposure to space, freezing temperatures, and boiling for an hour, but can be killed by long exposure to hot water.
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The scientists have been interested in how tardigrades do this. Brine shrimp use sugars called trehalose to freeze their cells in a glass-like state in order to survive long periods of desiccation.
Tardigrades do not have a lot of trehalose. They have a lot of proteins that are not found in other animal's. In a non-tun tardigrade, they appear disorganized and disordered, and a new genetic study found that some of them promote a glassy state.
Researchers claim that frozen tardigrade is the first quantum entangled animal.
The research focused on a group of tardigrade-specific genes. Liquid fills the cells in tardigrades. Several research groups found that the proteins were involved in the survival of tardigrades during desiccation. No one could figure out how to do it.
The team was looking for tardigrade proteins that changed form when stressed. There were more than 300 that they identified.
The researchers dehydrated the cells and analyzed how the proteins changed. When the cells were threatened with desiccation, the proteins formed a network. The cytoplasm was transformed into a gel-like state and the cell was not able to collapse as water came out. Just as quickly, this condensation occurred and reversed. A cell can be up and running again in six minutes.
The researchers were able to make insect cells more resistant to desiccation, but they weren't as tough as tardigrade cells. According to Live Science, CAHS wasn't working on its own.
Other factors are needed to reproduce the tolerant ability of tardigrades.
The researchers identified more than 300 tardigrade genes that respond to stress. Future findings could be used to improve the shelf life of vaccines and medication.
The original publication was on Live Science.
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