You think cockroaches are tough little buggers? HA! They ain’t got NOTHIN’ on the tardigrade, and scientists are finally starting to figure out how the little thing does its thing, from its ability to survive in space, at near absolute zero, above the boiling point of water, and even up to10 years without food.
Thanks to Corina Marinescu for sharing this.
Originally shared by Corina Marinescu
The tardigrade genome has been sequenced, and it has the most foreign DNA of any animal
Scientists have sequenced the entire genome of the tardigrade, AKA the water bear, for the first time. And it turns out that this weird little creature has the most foreign genes of any animal studied so far – or to put it another way, roughly one-sixth of the tardigrade’s genome was stolen from other species.
A little background here for those who aren’t familiar with the strangeness that is the tardigrade – the microscopic water creature grows to just over 1 mm on average, and is the only animal that can survive in the harsh environment of space. It can also withstand temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water, can cope with ridiculous amounts of pressure and radiation, and can live for more than 10 years without food or water. Basically, it’s nearly impossible to kill, and now scientists have shown that its DNA is just as bizarre as it is.
Paper:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/11/18/1510461112
Article:
#research #genome #dna #tardigrade
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