Förster Frank, Beisser Daniela, Grohme Markus A, Liang Chunguang, Mali Brahim, Siegl Alexander Matthias, Engelmann Julia C, Shkumatov Alexander V, Schokraie Elham, Müller Tobias, Schnölzer Martina, Schill Ralph O, Frohme Marcus, Dandekar Thomas
Dept. of Bioinformatics, Biocenter University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
Bioinform Biol Insights. 2012;6:69-96. doi: 10.4137/BBI.S9150. Epub 2012 Apr 23.
Tardigrades have unique stress-adaptations that allow them to survive extremes of cold, heat, radiation and vacuum. To study this, encoded protein clusters and pathways from an ongoing transcriptome study on the tardigrade Milnesium tardigradum were analyzed using bioinformatics tools and compared to expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from Hypsibius dujardini, revealing major pathways involved in resistance against extreme environmental conditions. ESTs are available on the Tardigrade Workbench along with software and databank updates. Our analysis reveals that RNA stability motifs for M. tardigradum are different from typical motifs known from higher animals. M. tardigradum and H. dujardini protein clusters and conserved domains imply metabolic storage pathways for glycogen, glycolipids and specific secondary metabolism as well as stress response pathways (including heat shock proteins, bmh2, and specific repair pathways). Redox-, DNA-, stress- and protein protection pathways complement specific repair capabilities to achieve the strong robustness of M. tardigradum. These pathways are partly conserved in other animals and their manipulation could boost stress adaptation even in human cells. However, the unique combination of resistance and repair pathways make tardigrades and M. tardigradum in particular so highly stress resistant.
水熊虫具有独特的应激适应能力，使它们能够在极端的寒冷、炎热、辐射和真空环境中生存。为了对此进行研究，我们使用生物信息学工具分析了正在进行的关于水熊虫米尔恩水熊（Milnesium tardigradum）转录组研究中的编码蛋白簇和信号通路，并将其与杜氏高生熊虫（Hypsibius dujardini）的表达序列标签（EST）进行比较，从而揭示了参与抵抗极端环境条件的主要信号通路。EST可在水熊虫工作平台上获取，同时还有软件和数据库更新。我们的分析表明，米尔恩水熊的RNA稳定基序与高等动物已知的典型基序不同。米尔恩水熊和杜氏高生熊虫的蛋白簇及保守结构域意味着糖原、糖脂和特定次生代谢的代谢储存途径以及应激反应途径（包括热休克蛋白、bmh2和特定修复途径）。氧化还原、DNA、应激和蛋白质保护途径补充了特定的修复能力，从而实现了米尔恩水熊的强大稳健性。这些途径在其他动物中部分保守，对其进行操控甚至可能增强人类细胞的应激适应能力。然而，抗性和修复途径的独特组合使得水熊虫，尤其是米尔恩水熊具有如此高的抗应激能力。
