Recent Research results published in Protein Science journal University of Wyoming researchers report finding further insight into how tardigrade proteins survive extreme conditions, showing that the tiny organism’s proteins expressed in human cells can slow molecular processes. The authors report that they have demonstrated that the molecule is a potential candidate for technologies focused on slowing the aging process. Long-term storage of human cells.
According to researchers, tardigrade proteins could eventually be used for life-saving treatments in places where refrigeration is not possible, to enhance the storage of cell-based therapeutics, and to advance stem cell research/therapy. It is said that there is.
These small proteins are less than half a millimeter in length and are sometimes called tardigrades. They live in the vacuum of space, bone dry, frozen to just above absolute zero, heated to over 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and exposed to thousands of times more radiation than humans can withstand. But you can survive. According to the researchers, these amazing survivors achieve this by entering a reversible state of suspended animation called biostasis, which involves proteins that form a gel inside their cells and slow down life processes. This includes using.
“Surprisingly, when you introduce these proteins into human cells, they gel and slow down their metabolism, just like they do in tardigrades,” said the researcher, who came to the University of California lab from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. said Sanchez Martinez, a senior researcher. First author of the paper. “Furthermore, just like tardigrades, putting human cells containing these proteins into biostasis makes them more resistant to stress, giving human cells some of the tardigrade’s abilities.”
“When stress is relieved, the tardigrade gel dissolves and human cells return to normal metabolism,” said Boothby, an assistant professor in the University of California’s Department of Molecular Biology. “Our findings provide an avenue to pursue technologies centered on inducing biostasis in cells, and even whole organisms, to slow aging and increase preservation and stability.”
Co-authors of the study come from institutions including the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of California, Merced, the University of Bologna in Italy, and the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
