The "Trisomy" appears? This creature can also dehydrate itself!

As we all know, cockroaches are known as "indestructible cockroaches" and have a very strong vitality. However, if you freeze them in a refrigerator, submerge them in water, bake them at high temperatures, or irradiate them with radiation, it is clear that they will not be able to survive. However, if I say that there is a kind of insect that is even more powerful than "cockroaches" and is not afraid of fire, water, drying, cold, or radiation, would it make your hair stand on end?

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Don't be afraid, although these insects exist, they are so small that they are almost indistinguishable to the naked eye. They are the famous water bears .

How tenacious is the vitality of the water bear? Whether it is extremely hot or cold, or extremely dry or extremely irradiated, it can survive smoothly. Therefore, the water bear is called "the strongest creature on the surface of the earth."

So why are tardigrades so resilient? Can this ability be used by humans?

1

What is a tardigrade?

Water bear is a common name for various species of Tardigrade . Under a magnifying glass, their round and fat bodies resemble an eight-legged bear. They live in humid and watery places, so the name "water bear" is indeed very appropriate.

The water bear is transparent and has four pairs of short appendages with small claws or suckers at the end. Its body surface is also covered with a layer of water film to keep it moist. It lives in a wide range of areas, from the Himalayas to the deep sea. Its body length is very small, about 50 microns to 1.4 mm, and the smaller species can only be seen with a microscope.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

As mentioned before, tardigrades have extremely strong vitality and can survive well in a variety of harsh environments such as high temperature, extreme cold, high pressure, low pressure, lack of oxygen and radiation.

For example, under high temperature conditions of 151°C, tardigrades can survive for 2 minutes, at minus 200°C they can even survive for several days, and at minus 20°C they can survive for more than 30 years; in a radiation environment, its lethal dose is hundreds of times the lethal dose of radiation for humans; in the deep sea high pressure environment, tardigrades can withstand pressure 6 times the highest ocean pressure, while steel would have been squeezed and deformed in such an environment.

So why are tardigrades so tenacious?

2

Why are tardigrades so amazing?

The reason why water bears can survive in various harsh environments is due to their extreme survival ability - the "cryptobiosis" state. In extremely harsh environments, water bears can control their bodies to make appropriate changes to survive in extremely unsuitable environments.

Cryptobiosis refers to a state that tardigrades use to resist adverse environments. In the process of cryptobiosis, water bears exist in the form of a "cask phase" , which is specifically manifested as the body curled up into a barrel shape, while the cuticle between the dorsal scales shrinks and the scales are stacked together. The whole body shrinks up and becomes a state similar to a "cask".

Water bear

Source: Wikipedia/Willow Gabriel, Goldstein Lab

There are four types of cryptobiosis: Anhydrobiosis, Cryobiosis, Anoxybiosis and Osmobiosis.

Low humidity cryptobiosis is a form of cryptobiosis that occurs when the environment is water-deficient. When the water content in the environment is low, the tardigrade will produce protein to replace the water lost in the body. When the water content in the environment is sufficient, the water can dissolve the protein in the tardigrade cells and refill the cells.

Low-temperature cryptobiosis is a form of cryptobiosis that occurs when the ambient temperature is low. When frozen, tardigrades enter a "bucket state" during which their metabolism is weakened or even stops completely. When the ambient temperature rises, they thaw and wake up. In this process, most tardigrades will not be damaged.

Anoxic cryptobiosis is a form of cryptobiosis that occurs when the surrounding oxygen content is extremely low. Water bears will first shrink their bodies and then stretch them to their maximum size, but they are still in a state of suffocation, and will resume their activity when there is enough oxygen.

Osmotic cryptobiosis, a form of cryptobiosis that occurs when the osmotic pressure of the surrounding environment is elevated, is relatively rare and has not yet been fully observed and studied.

The magical abilities of tardigrades naturally attracted the attention of many scientists, and tardigrades have also been applied to scientific research in many fields.

For example, in 2019, tardigrades were brought to the moon by an Israeli lunar spacecraft, but the spacecraft failed to land and crashed. There is no definite news yet whether the tardigrades that unfortunately crashed survived and took root on the moon.

Source: Baidu Encyclopedia

In 2022, another research team conducted a quantum entanglement experiment using tardigrades. They claimed that tardigrades could achieve short-term quantum entanglement, but this experiment has not yet been peer-reviewed and the conclusions are not yet clear.

In addition, tardigrades have also made great contributions in the field of medicine.

3

Tardigrade protein stabilizes hemophilia drug

Some time ago, scientists from a university in the United States published a research result in the journal "Science Report", claiming that tardigrade protein can be used to stabilize a certain hemophilia drug without the need for refrigeration.

Human coagulation reactions include two pathways: intrinsic and extrinsic. No matter which pathway is used, the participation of coagulation factor VIII (highlighted in orange in the figure) is required for normal coagulation. Hemophilia patients lack coagulation factor VIII in their bodies, which leads to coagulation disorders.

Two major pathways of coagulation

Source | "Natural and engineered mediators of desiccation tolerance stabilize Human Blood Clotting Factor VIII in a dry state"

However, coagulation factor VIII has a characteristic: it is inherently unstable and requires constant low temperature and storage conditions to be maintained, otherwise it will easily decompose.

Therefore, if coagulation factor VIII can be kept stable in a variety of environments, it will be of great significance for the delivery and storage of related hemophilia drugs. Water bears have such an ability: in a dry environment, water bears produce proteins to replace the missing water. After water is available, the water will refill the cells and dissolve the proteins. Researchers believe that understanding this mechanism will be beneficial to humans, such as preserving live vaccines without refrigeration.

Therefore, these scientists tried to use proteins and sugar-based media extracted from tardigrades to experiment with the stability of coagulation factor VIII under experimental conditions (repeated dehydration, hydration cycles, heat stress, long-term drying, etc.). The results showed that the proteins from tardigrades can help keep coagulation factor VIII in a stable state.

Source: pixabay

If this experiment on tardigrades can be further studied and promoted, it will be possible to better deploy biological resources in some underdeveloped, remote areas or harsh environments.

All in all, the secrets of the tardigrade, "the strongest creature on earth," still need further understanding and discovery. Hopefully, one day, these animals with tenacious vitality will be able to provide humans with more new ways to overcome diseases.