Surviving extreme polar winters by desiccation: clues from Arctic springtail (Onychiurus arcticus) EST libraries

Abstract

Background: Ice, snow and temperatures of -14°C are conditions which most animals would find difficult, if not impossible, to survive in. However this exactly describes the Arctic winter, and the Arctic springtail Onychiurus arcticus regularly survives these extreme conditions and re-emerges in the spring. It is able to do this by reducing the amount of water in its body to almost zero: a process that is called "protective dehydration". The aim of this project was to generate clones and sequence data in the form of ESTs to provide a platform for the future molecular characterisation of the processes involved in protective dehydration.

State diagrams for improving processing and storage of foods, biological materials, and pharmaceuticals (IUPAC Technical Report)

“…The mechanisms by which certain organisms survive extreme low temperatures are schematized in Fig. 10, and they include: extracellular water crystallization (formation of ice crystals outside cell membrane), use of antifreeze proteins (AFPs), and glass formation [235].…”

“…In freeze-tolerant species, proteinaceous ice nucleators agents (INAs) trigger extracellular freezing at high subzero temperatures, either to provide protection from cold by released heat of fusion, or to establish a protective (extracellular) freezing that drives water out of cells, thus decreasing the temperature at which intracellular ice could form [235]. The amino acids within INAs are thought to form templates for ice, which can serve as embryos for ice formation [236].…”

“…Fish, insects, and some plants that live in Arctic and Antarctic regions have evolved to produce AFPs, which inhibit the growth of ice crystals by adsorption to ice surfaces [237]. Another class of nonfreezing-tolerant organisms, such as the Arctic springtail, Onychiurus arcticus, and some insects, use a strategy of protective dehydration [235]. In protective dehydration (Fig.…”

The expression pattern of dormancy-associated genes in multiple life-history stages in the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis

“…LEA proteins are associated with desiccation tolerance throughout the life cycle of major plant taxa and especially in seeds. They have been found also in non-plant species (nematodes, bdelloid rotifers, Artemia cysts, springtail insects) and almost all non-plant LEA proteins belong to Group 3 (Tunnacliffe & Wise, 2007;Clark et al, 2007), although a Group 1 LEA protein was recently reported in Artemia cysts (Sharon et al, 2009). The exact functions of LEAs are not completely known but they were shown to play a role in protein stabilization, prevent protein aggregation (Chakrabortee et al, 2007) and participate in the intracellular glassy state formation during desiccation in orthodox seeds (Berjak, 2006).…”

Metabolomic Analysis of Diapausing and Noni-diapausing Larvae of the European Corn Borer Ostrinia nubilalis (Hbn.) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

“…15 Most studies on the molecular basis of insect cold hardiness conducted to date have been based on the level of the genome, transcriptome and proteome. [15][16][17][18] Despite significant progress in this area, many aspects of the metabolic adaptations underlying diapause and cold hardiness remain undiscovered, especially in non-model organisms. We propose that a metabolomic approach could provide insight into the metabolite composition underlying adaptations in response to unfavourable environmental conditions, such as low temperature.…”