Microinjection of dsRNA in Tardigrades

Tardigrades

Tardi-what? Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are a littlestudied phylum of animals. First discovered 230 years ago, there are at least 700 different species living on land, in fresh water and in the sea. The tardigrades represent a successful group of animals — in flourishing existence after about 600 million years of evolution — that could hold keys to the patterns and mechanisms by whi...

The Resolved Mystery of Tardigrades

The phylogenetic position of tardigrade is a controversial and uncertain field among scientists. The tiny animals are considered to belong to an independent phylum called “Tardigrada”.Recent phylogenomics studies based on expression sequence tag (EST) and micro RNAs (miRNAs) have confirmed the phylogenetic position of tardigrades as a sister group of the arthropods [1]. Tardigrades are segmente...

Tardigrades: Species Relationships

Survival and DNA degradation in anhydrobiotic tardigrades.

Anhydrobiosis is a highly stable state of suspended animation in an organism due to its desiccation, which is followed by recovery after rehydration. Changes occurring during drying could damage molecules, including DNA. Using the anhydrobiotic tardigrade Paramacrobiotus richtersi as a model organism, we have evaluated the effects of environmental factors, such as temperature and air humidity l...

Diapause in tardigrades: a study of factors involved in encystment.

Stressful environmental conditions limit survival, growth and reproduction, or these conditions induce resting stages indicated as dormancy. Tardigrades represent one of the few animal phyla able to perform both forms of dormancy: quiescence and diapause. Different forms of cryptobiosis (quiescence) are widespread and well studied, while little attention has been devoted to the adaptive meaning...