The Arctic tails (Megaphorura arctica) survived in freezing temperatures by self-dehydrating before the coldest period began. Researchers have identified a set of genes involved in controlling this extreme survival mechanism.
Melody Clark led a team of researchers from the British Arctic Survey Authority and Serbia's Novi-Sad University. She said: 'This is the first intensive molecular study of this species' icy weather survival mechanism. Information from this study is not only interested in by ecologists, but also by researchers on the impact of low temperature on biological systems. '
Arctic tails self-dehydrate themselves to survive the most extreme weather of the polar regions, with snow and ice, and temperatures can easily drop to -14 degrees Celsius. Small shells until the weather is more favorable then they start to work again. This is the first study to identify the genetic basis for this physiological process. To identify the cold-induced gene expression traits in the tailbugs, Clark and colleagues compared gene expression in groups of animals exposed to different environmental conditions.
They found that the genes involved in many cellular processes, including the production and mobilization of a natural anti-freezing agent, protect the cell system through heat-shock proteins, activated during dehydration. . Genes predominate when animals recover at higher temperatures, which are genes involved in energy production, leading to protein production and cell division.
Clark said about the significance of the study: 'This study is part of a larger European project called Sleeping Beauty, explaining how different animals survive the dehydration process. Understanding how animals survive in exceptionally harsh environmental conditions will hopefully provide new solutions for medical research and tissue preservation for transplant cases. '
Refer:
1. Melody S Clark, Michael AS Thorne, Jelena Purac, Gavin Burns, Guy Hillyard, Zeljko D Popovic, Gordana Grubor-Lajsic and M Roger Worland.Surviving the cold: molecular analgesic of insect cryoprotective dehydration in the Arctic springtail Megaphorura arctica (Tullberg).BMC Genomics, (in press) [link]