Recovery from anhydrobiosis in the tardigradeParamacrobiotus experimentalis: better to be young than old and in a group than alone

Abstract

Desiccation-tolerant organisms can survive dehydration in a state of anhydrobiosis. Tardigrades can recover from anhydrobiosis at any life stage and are considered among the toughest animals on Earth. However, the factors that influence recovery from anhydrobiosis are not well understood. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of sex, age, occurrence in a group and the combination of the number and duration of anhydrobiosis episodes on the recovery of Paramacrobiotus experimentalis. The activity of 1,200 individuals for up to 48 hours after rehydration was evaluated using ANOVA. Age was the main factor influencing return to activity, followed by the number and duration of anhydrobiosis episodes, group influence, and sex. More individuals returned to activity after repeated short than repeated long anhydrobiosis episodes and older individuals were less likely to recover than younger individuals. In addition, more individuals were active after rehydration in groups than individually. The effect of sex was significant, but there was no general tendency for one sex to recover from anhydrobiosis better than the other one. The results contribute to a better understanding of the anhydrobiosis ability of Pam. experimentalis and provide background for evolutionary, molecular and environmental mechanisms of anhydrobiosis ability.

Investigation of Potential Effects of Ibuprofen on the Storage Cells and Anhydrobiosis Capacity of the Tardigrade Paramacrobiotus experimentalis

“…experimentalis revealed that the recovery from anhydrobiosis is influenced by several factors. These include age, the combination of the number and duration of anhydrobiosis episodes, and the presence of other individuals [56]. The current study demonstrated that none of the tested concentrations of ibuprofen had a significant impact on the recovery from anhydrobiosis of Pam.…”

The effect of hypomagnetic field on survival and mitochondrial functionality of active Paramacrobiotus experimentalis females and males of different age

“…It has been reported that the length of exposure to HMF may be an important factor for the observed effect (Sinčák and Sedlakova-Kadukova, 2023) Moreover, it appears that the tardigrade's ability to survive under extreme conditions can be influenced by many factors (e.g., McCarthy and delBarco-Trillo, 2020). Our previous results indicate that age and sex could be important to tardigrades' survival under extreme conditions represented by water deficiency resulting in dehydration (Nagwani et al, 2023). Therefore, we decided to study the impact of different durations of exposure to HMF on the survival rate and mitochondrial Δψ levels of active tardigrades of different ages and sex.…”

“…Females and males of P. experimentalis (Kaczmarek et al, 2020;Nagwani et al, 2023) were reared together in covered, vented plastic Petri dishes (55 mm in diameter), with the bottom scratched with sandpaper to allow the animals to move. The individuals were coated with a thin layer of the culture medium, a mixture of spring water (Żywiec Zdrój S.A., Poland), and ddH2O in a 1:3 ratio.…”