This reminds me of the title characters in the classic fairytale Beauty SleepNew research shows that the famously tough tardigrades, known for their resilience, can stop their biological clocks in deep, cold sleep.
These beasties are so tough that they already have many superpowers to withstand even the most difficult conditions. Protect their DNA with armorProtected from radiation and protected with special protein padding that prevents their cells crashing during radiation Dehydration for long periods.
They can do so much more with this collection of tricks. Survive the vacuum of space.
Hibernation is a form of extreme hibernation where water bears are able to survive freezing. cryobiosis. In this state, their metabolism basically stops.
Now, it turns out that their metabolism isn’t the only thing that has to ‘pause.
Jessica Sieger, University of Stuttgart biologist and her co-workers exposed a number of MilnesiumInceptum tardigrades to alternating weekly periods of freezing at −30 °C (−22 °F) and feeding at 20 °C (68 °F), until they died. Another group was kept at room temperature.
Surprisingly, 716 tardigrades lived twice as long as those who were regularly frozen, out of 716 total. The oldest lived for 169 days with 94 days at room temperature while the oldest in the control group lived for 93 days.
Both groups spent approximately the same amount time active alive. This shows that the tardigrade’s biological ageing process was significantly slowed or even stopped by cryobiosis. Researchers say this confirms the’sleeping Beauty’ model of cryobiosis that slows or stops the animal’s biological clock.
“During inactive periods the internal clock stops running and is only reactivated when the organism is active again.” explainsRalph Schill, a University of Stuttgart zoologist, was also interviewed. “Tardigrades can live for many years, if not for long periods of time, unlike other animals that live only for a few months.
These adorable near-immortals also go into a suspended animation state under extremely dry conditions – a process called anhydrobiosis. Previous researchSchill has also shown that tardigrades are able to suspend their aging while in this condition, but this is the first instance of it being confirmed in a frozen state.
This clever trick allows the tiny creatures of millimeter size to be able to wait for favorable conditions before they act. An example: Rain after decades of drought. This is the kiss that woke Sleeping Beauty.
After being frozen, tardigrades were rediscovered. Over 30 yearsThey are still fertile and alive. Their suspended animation isn’t foolproof.
It is difficult to freeze safely. Death can occur instead, if freezing happens too fast – not allowing certain biochemical processes to complete quickly enough, the researchers Explain.
Another factor that could go wrong is insufficient energy storage. Previous studiesIt has been demonstrated that chonky animals can use the energy stored within their cells to enter and exit deep sleep.
“The life cycles of invertebrates depend on the severity, seasonality, predictability, and variability of their environment conditions,” Sieger, Schill, and team. Their paper summarizes.
This research was published by the Journal of Zoology.
