Re:Tardigrade protein helps human DNA withstand radiation (2...
by wavefunction on Thursday July 12, 2018 @06:50PM
(#17519271)
I thought eutelic organisms experience mitosis until they reach maturity but that's coming from Wikipedia so ymmv.
Re:Tardigrade protein helps human DNA withstand radiation (2...
by MaxBarraclough on Friday July 13, 2018 @04:35AM
(#17521377)
Well spotted. I think the tardigrade is special even for a eutelic species. From Wikipedia:
> The eggs hatch after no more than 14 days, with the young already possessing their full complement of adult cells. Growth to the adult size therefore occurs by enlargement of the individual cells (hypertrophy), rather than by cell division.
> I think that the single most significant property of the adult tardigrade in relation to stress resistance is that its somatic cells are eutelic, that is, after hatching as an adult, the somatic cells do not divide
Tardigrades are very peculiar in this regard: after hatching, they grow to adult size not by cellular division (mitosis), but by growing the cells (hypertrophy).
If that's the key to their ability to withstand radiation (beyond the effects of 'Dsup'), we humans have no hope of using the same trick.
(Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm talking about, and haven't read the paper.)