From Wired
Tardigrades — aka water bears or moss piglets — are perhaps the most resilient creatures on the planet, able to survive complete dehydration, space vacuum and being frozen. However, only recently have scientists begun to unravel the genes that underpin the tardigrade's biological superpowers. “They’re 0.2mm to 1mm in length and despite being so small they are able to do all these things we cannot,” says Mark Blaxter, a biologist at the University of Edinburgh who has been studying tardigrades for 20 years. “In their DNA, they hold a cornucopia of secrets.”Read more: http://www.wired.co.uk/article/water-bearsWith Kazurahu Arakawa, from the University of Keio, Japan, Blaxter recently analysed the first true tardigrade genome. The results, published today in the open access journal PLOS Biology, are a first step towards explaining the genetics underpinning the tardigrade's extraordinary resilience and to pinpoint its place within the evolutionary tree of life. We spoke to Blaxter about his new research and his fascination for this remarkable little animal.
MB: Two reasons. One is that, to most people, even fellow scientists, the genome of a tardigrade just isn’t that important. So tardigrades were not on the top of the list of things to be sequenced once the human genome was done. However, now that sequencing is so cheap and fast, those of us who are tardigrade enthusiasts can sequence them without needing millions of dollars to spend.
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