On July 7, the research group of Yuki Yoshida, a graduate student of the Institute for Advanced Life Sciences, Keio University and Kazuharu Arakawa, in collaboration with Professor Mark Blaxter of the University of Edinburgh, UK, and Assistant Professor Takekazu Kunieda of the University of Tokyo, will work on the genome of the bear beetle. He announced that he had deciphered the information and clarified the mechanism that creates the diversity of extreme environmental resistance and the evolution in dehulled animals.
Tardigrades are small animals with a body length of 1 mm or less.Tardigrades, a state called "dry sleep" that is almost completely dehydrated as the surrounding environment dries, are attracting attention because of their extreme environmental resistance that can withstand ultra-low temperatures, radioactivity, and even cosmic vacuum.Tardigrades in a dry state resume their vital activities by replenishing water even after long-term storage for several years.This is why it is called "the strongest creature on earth".
This time, the research group analyzed the genome of a tardigrade called "Hypsibius dujardan", which has relatively weak extreme environmental tolerance.Furthermore, we re-analyzed the genomic information of "Yokoduna tardigrade", which has strong extreme environmental resistance, and constructed a highly accurate gene database of tardigrades.And if we realize a dry sleep mechanism such as the existence of a large number of genes peculiar to bear beetle to protect cells from drought from the comparative analysis of two species, duplication of genes related to antioxidant action, and deletion of cell stress sensor. Discovered a possible set of genes.In addition, by gene expression analysis, it was found that the strength of the drought tolerance of tardigrades is controlled by the regulation of gene expression while having such common components.
The gene that protects the DNA unique to bear beetles reported by the research group and others is known to improve the radiation resistance of cultured human cells. It is expected that it will lead to the discovery of promising genes.
Paper information:[PLoS Biology] Comparative genomics of the tardigrades Hypsibius dujardini and Ramazzottius varieornatus
