O que torna esta criatura quase invencível? Biólogos ganharam uma nova visão

Os pesquisadores estão melhorando sua compreensão da resiliência dos tardígrados.

pesquisadores em Universidade de Wyoming Aprendi mais sobre os processos biológicos que permitem que organismos minúsculos conhecidos como tardígrados resistam a condições extremas, como a dessecação completa em animação suspensa, por anos.

Thomas Boothby, professor assistente de biologia molecular, e seus colegas descobriram como a trealose, um açúcar, interage com as proteínas para permitir que os tardígrados sobrevivam na ausência de água. Suas descobertas foram publicadas recentemente na revista biologia da comunicação.

Os tardígrados, geralmente conhecidos como ursos d’água, têm menos de meio milímetro de comprimento e podem tolerar completamente a dessecação e o congelamento até pouco mais de[{” attribute=””>absolute zero (approximately minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit, when all molecular motion ceases), heated to more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit, irradiated several thousand times beyond what a person can withstand, and even survive the vacuum of outer space.

Tardigrades’ ability to survive being dried out has perplexed scientists since it seems to vary from that of a number of other species that can enter suspended animation. Previously, scientists believed tardigrades did not produce trehalose to survive drying out, but Boothby and his colleagues discovered that they do, although at lower levels than other organisms.

The researchers also found that, in tardigrades, trehalose works synergistically with another tardigrade-specific protein called CAHS D.

Ultimately, Boothby and other researchers hope that their discoveries can be applied to help solve societal and global health issues — in this case, water scarcity. Their work might lead to better ways of stabilizing pharmaceuticals and generating engineered crops that can cope with harsh environments.

“A long-term goal of this field is to understand better how to confer the adaptation abilities of tardigrades to organisms that do not naturally survive drying,” Boothby says. “This study and its findings provide a compelling argument that to do so may require the combination of different, synergistic protectants.”

Reference: “Trehalose and tardigrade CAHS proteins work synergistically to promote desiccation tolerance” by Kenny Nguyen, Shraddha KC, Tyler Gonzalez, Hugo Tapia, and Thomas C. Boothby, 1 October 2022, Communications Biology.
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04015-2

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the National Institutes of Health.