Elucidation of molecular machinery preventing extreme environmental stress – Publicly Invited Research 2018－2019

  1. A01 Ogura
  2. A01 H. Takahashi
  3. A01 S. Takahashi
  4. A01 Michiue
  5. A01 Hinoi
  6. A01 Tsumoto
  7. A01 Nikawa
  8. A01 Chatani
  9. A01 Kawakami
  10. A01 Akiyama
  11. A01 Tomita
  1. A02 Shinohara
  2. A02 Mieda
  3. A02 Maekawa
  4. A02 Abe
  5. A02 Ohgami
  6. A02 Kawano
  7. A02 Takano
  1. A03 Suzuki
  2. A03 Nakamura
  3. A03 Harada
  4. A03 Kobayashi
  5. A03 Miyamoto
  6. A03 Funayama
  7. A03 Kakinuma
  1. B01 Lazarus
  2. B01 Kato
  3. B01 Kunieda
  4. B01 Kitaya
  5. B01 Sawano
Research Subject Elucidation of molecular machinery preventing extreme environmental stress
Research Group Leader
name
Takekazu Kunieda
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo
Website
http://www.bs.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~saibou/kuma/ (*Written in Japanese)

Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are small aquatic animals living in various habitats. They enter an almost completely dehydrated state upon desiccation and exhibit exceptional tolerance against various physical extremes, including direct exposure to space. Former studies suggested the presence of tardigrade-unique toolbox for extremotolerance, though the molecular machinery remains to be elusive.
In this project, we use four tardigrade species with different tolerability, ranging from a very sensitive species to the toughest species, and sort out the tolerance-related genes by comparing various omics data among these species. The roles of identified genes will be revealed by both loss of function and gain of function experiments.