ما الذي يجعل هذا المخلوق لا يقهر؟ اكتسب علماء الأحياء رؤية جديدة

يعمل الباحثون على تحسين فهمهم لمدى صلابة بطيئات المشية.

الباحثون في جامعة وايومنغ إنهم يتعلمون المزيد عن العمليات البيولوجية التي تمكن المخلوقات الصغيرة التي تسمى بطيئات المشية من تحمل الظروف القاسية ، مثل الجفاف التام في الرسوم المتحركة المعلقة لسنوات.

اكتشف توماس بوثبي ، الأستاذ المساعد في البيولوجيا الجزيئية ، وزملاؤه كيفية تفاعل التريهالوز ، وهو سكر ، مع البروتينات. تم نشر النتائج التي توصلوا إليها مؤخرًا في المجلة بيولوجيا الاتصالات.

يبلغ طول بطيئات المشية ، التي يطلق عليها غالبًا الدببة المائية ، أقل من نصف ملليمتر ويمكنها تحمل الجفاف تمامًا وفوق درجة التجمد قليلاً.[{” 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.