Scientists insert proteins from indestructible tardigrade into human cells – and it has a remarkable effect
Tardigrades are only half a millimeter long, but they have proven to be indestructible. You can dry them out completely, freeze them to near absolute zero or heat them to 148 degrees Celsius: they can survive it all. They also appear to be able to withstand a thousand times more radiation than humans and even the vacuum of space has little effect on the tardigrades. And even experiments in which the minuscule creaturesd not result in the death of the tardigrades. Researchers therefore suspect that the tardigrade will see all other organisms on earth die out.
Cryptobiosis
For the research, the scientists studied proteins that help tardigrades survive extreme conditions, such as extremely high or low temperatures. When life gets tough, tardigrades go into cryptobiosis; they almost completely shut down targeted industry database their metabolism and dehydrate themselves, which means they store 99 percent less water. In this state, they don’t need water or food. And they can keep this up for decades, only to ‘simply’ come out of cryptobiosis when conditions become more favorable. They then restore their metabolism, start eating and drinking been again and reproduce. In short: they continue living as if nothing had happened.
CAHS
Entering cryptobiosis – and coming out of it – is made possible in the case of tardigrades by so-called CAHS proteins. One such 7 pūmanawa mo te mahi waea, mahi mamao ranei protein is CAHS D. Researchers have previously shown that the protein protects tardigrades from the normally devastating effects of dehydration. But exactly how this works was unclear. In this new study, scientists reveal that when tardigrades are in a difficult asb directory situation, CAHS D proteins form a kind of gel-like substance in the cells. This substance slows down the metabolism and protects the cell from dying. And as soon as conditions become more favorable, the proteins shed their gel-like form and the metabolism is restored.
