Mitochondrial alternative oxidase contributes to successful tardigrade anhydrobiosis

Anhydrobiosis can be described as an adaptation to lack of water that enables some organisms, including tardigrades, to survive extreme conditions, even some that do not exist on Earth. The cellular mechanisms underlying anhydrobiosis are still not completely explained including the putative contrib...

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Published in:Frontiers in zoology 2021-04, Vol.18 (1), p.15-15, Article 15
Main Authors: Wojciechowska, Daria, Karachitos, Andonis, Roszkowska, Milena, Rzeźniczak, Wiktor, Sobkowiak, Robert, Kaczmarek, Łukasz, Kosicki, Jakub Z, Kmita, Hanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative oxidase
Anhydrobiosis
Biological research
Biology, Experimental
Cryptobiosis
Cytochrome
Drought
Hypotheses
Invertebrates
Milnesium inceptum
Mitochondria
Mitochondrial alternative oxidase
Oxidases
Physiological aspects
Proteins
Rehydration
Tardigrada
Tardigrade
Yeast
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Summary:Anhydrobiosis can be described as an adaptation to lack of water that enables some organisms, including tardigrades, to survive extreme conditions, even some that do not exist on Earth. The cellular mechanisms underlying anhydrobiosis are still not completely explained including the putative contribution of mitochondrial proteins. Since mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX), described as a drought response element in plants, was recently proposed for various invertebrates including tardigrades, we investigated whether AOX is involved in successful anhydrobiosis of tardigrades. Milnesium inceptum was used as a model for the study. We confirmed functionality of M. inceptum AOX and estimated its contribution to the tardigrade revival after anhydrobiosis of different durations. We observed that AOX activity was particularly important for M. inceptum revival after the long-term tun stage but did not affect the rehydration stage specifically. The results may contribute to our understanding and then application of anhydrobiosis underlying mechanisms.
ISSN:1742-9994
1742-9994
DOI:10.1186/s12983-021-00400-5