Study shows that cultured human cells can benefit from the tardigrade’s protective protein.
The tardigrade, aka “water bear”, is quite possibly the world’s hardiest animal. This microscopic, eight-legged water dweller can withstand the most extreme cold and hot temperatures, survive in outer space, live for more than 10 years without any food or water, and resist high doses of radiation.
A new study published in Nature Communications may explain just how tardigrades manage to keep their DNA in tact, even when bombarded with X-rays: they have evolved protective proteins that appear to shield their DNA from radiation.
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“Tolerance against X-ray is thought to be a side-product of [the] animal's adaptation to severe dehydration,” study lead study author Takekazu Kunieda, a molecular biologist at the University of Tokyo, tells Nature News. As he explains, dehydration can cause DNA molecules to rip apart; this strong selective pressure likely triggered the evolution of a shielding mechanism.
The researchers focused on the most stress-tolerant tardigrade species, Ramazzottius varieornatus. After sequencing its genome and transplanting some of its genes into cultured human cells, the researchers discovered that a protein, called Dsup, was protecting the DNA in those cells against the damaging effects of radiation.
“The human cells that made Dsup saw a reduction of around 40 to 50 percent in the DNA damage caused by X-rays compared with control cells,” Kunieda tells New Scientist.
The gene associated with that particular protein has not been found in other tardigrade species, of which there are more than one thousand, making Dsup a likely source of R. varieornatus’ extreme tolerance to radiation.
The study’s findings could have far-reaching applications in several different areas. “It could be helpful for space flight, radiotherapy, and radiation workers in the far future,” says Kunieda.
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