TY - JOUR A1 - Reuner, Andy A1 - Hengherr, Steffen A1 - Mali, Brahim A1 - Förster, Frank A1 - Arndt, Detlev A1 - Reinhardt, Richard A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Frohme, Marcus A1 - Brümmer, Franz A1 - Schill, Ralph O. T1 - Stress response in tardigrades: differential gene expression of molecular chaperones JF - Cell Stress and Chaperones N2 - Semi-terrestrial tardigrades exhibit a remarkable tolerance to desiccation by entering a state called anhydrobiosis. In this state, they show a strong resistance against several kinds of physical extremes. Because of the probable importance of stress proteins during the phases of dehydration and rehydration, the relative abundance of transcripts coding for two α-crystallin heat-shock proteins (Mt-sHsp17.2 and Mt-sHsp19.5), as well for the heat-shock proteins Mt-sHsp10, Mt-Hsp60, Mt-Hsp70 and Mt-Hsp90, were analysed in active and anhydrobiotic tardigrades of the species Milnesium tardigradum. They were also analysed in the transitional stage (I) of dehydration, the transitional stage (II) of rehydration and in heat-shocked specimens. A variable pattern of expression was detected, with most candidates being downregulated. Gene transcripts of one Mt-hsp70 isoform in the transitional stage I and Mt-hsp90 in the anhydrobiotic stage were significantly upregulated. A high gene expression (778.6-fold) was found for the small α-crystallin heat-shock protein gene Mt-sHsp17.2 after heat shock. We discuss the limited role of the stress-gene expression in the transitional stages between the active and anhydrobiotic tardigrades and other mechanisms which allow tardigrades to survive desiccation. KW - alpha-crystallin protein KW - anhydrobiosis KW - cryptobiosis KW - heat-shock protein KW - tardigrada KW - Milnesium tardigradum Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-19994 VL - 15 IS - 4 SP - 423 EP - 430 PB - Springer ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schokraie, Elham A1 - Hotz-Wagenblatt, Agnes A1 - Warnken, Uwe A1 - Mali, Brahim A1 - Frohme, Marcus A1 - Förster, Frank A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Hengherr, Steffen A1 - Schill, Ralph O. A1 - Schnölzer, Martina T1 - Proteomic Analysis of Tardigrades: Towards a Better Understanding of Molecular Mechanisms by Anhydrobiotic Organisms JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Tardigrades are small, multicellular invertebrates which are able to survive times of unfavourable environmental conditions using their well-known capability to undergo cryptobiosis at any stage of their life cycle. Milnesium tardigradum has become a powerful model system for the analysis of cryptobiosis. While some genetic information is already available for Milnesium tardigradum the proteome is still to be discovered. Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-6214 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 5 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schokraie, Elham A1 - Warnken, Uwe A1 - Hotz-Wagenblatt, Agnes A1 - Grohme, Markus A1 - Hengherr, Steffen A1 - Förster, Frank A1 - Schill, Ralph O. A1 - Frohme, Marcus A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Schnölzer, Martina T1 - Comparative proteome analysis of Milnesium tardigradum in early embryonic state versus adults in active and anhydrobiotic state JF - PLoS ONE N2 - Tardigrades have fascinated researchers for more than 300 years because of their extraordinary capability to undergo cryptobiosis and survive extreme environmental conditions. However, the survival mechanisms of tardigrades are still poorly understood mainly due to the absence of detailed knowledge about the proteome and genome of these organisms. Our study was intended to provide a basis for the functional characterization of expressed proteins in different states of tardigrades. High-throughput, high-accuracy proteomics in combination with a newly developed tardigrade specific protein database resulted in the identification of more than 3000 proteins in three different states: early embryonic state and adult animals in active and anhydrobiotic state. This comprehensive proteome resource includes protein families such as chaperones, antioxidants, ribosomal proteins, cytoskeletal proteins, transporters, protein channels, nutrient reservoirs, and developmental proteins. A comparative analysis of protein families in the different states was performed by calculating the exponentially modified protein abundance index which classifies proteins in major and minor components. This is the first step to analyzing the proteins involved in early embryonic development, and furthermore proteins which might play an important role in the transition into the anhydrobiotic state. Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-6392 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 7 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Förster, Frank A1 - Beisser, Daniela A1 - Grohme, Markus A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Mali, Brahim A1 - Siegl, Alexander Matthias A1 - Engelmann, Julia C. A1 - Shkumatov, Alexander A1 - Schokraie, Elham A1 - Müller, Tobias A1 - Schnölzer, Martina A1 - Schill, Ralph O. A1 - Frohme, Marcus A1 - Dandekar, Thomas T1 - Transcriptome Analysis in Tardigrade Species Reveals Specific Molecular Pathways for Stress Adaptations JF - Bioinformatics and Biology Insights N2 - Tardigrades have unique stress-adaptations that allow them to survive extremes of cold, heat, radiation and vacuum. To study this, encoded protein clusters and pathways from an ongoing transcriptome study on the tardigrade Milnesium tardigradum were analyzed using bioinformatics tools and compared to expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from Hypsibius dujardini, revealing major pathways involved in resistance against extreme environmental conditions. ESTs are available on the Tardigrade Workbench along with software and databank updates. Our analysis reveals that RNA stability motifs for M. tardigradum are different from typical motifs known from higher animals. M. tardigradum and H. dujardini protein clusters and conserved domains imply metabolic storage pathways for glycogen, glycolipids and specific secondary metabolism as well as stress response pathways (including heat shock proteins, bmh2, and specific repair pathways). Redox-, DNA-, stress- and protein protection pathways complement specific repair capabilities to achieve the strong robustness of M. tardigradum. These pathways are partly conserved in other animals and their manipulation could boost stress adaptation even in human cells. However, the unique combination of resistance and repair pathways make tardigrades and M. tardigradum in particular so highly stress resistant. KW - RNA KW - expressed sequence tag KW - cluster KW - protein family KW - adaptation KW - tardigrada KW - transcriptome Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-6153 SN - 1177-9322 VL - 2012 IS - 6 SP - 69 EP - 96 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Förster, Frank A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Shkumatov, Alexander A1 - Beisser, Daniela A1 - Engelmann, Julia C. A1 - Schnölzer, Martina A1 - Frohme, Marcus A1 - Müller, Tobias A1 - Schill, Ralph O. A1 - Dandekar, Thomas T1 - Tardigrade workbench: comparing stress-related proteins, sequence-similar and functional protein clusters as well as RNA elements in tardigrades JF - BMC Genomics N2 - Background Tardigrades represent an animal phylum with extraordinary resistance to environmental stress. Results To gain insights into their stress-specific adaptation potential, major clusters of related and similar proteins are identified, as well as specific functional clusters delineated comparing all tardigrades and individual species (Milnesium tardigradum, Hypsibius dujardini, Echiniscus testudo, Tulinus stephaniae, Richtersius coronifer) and functional elements in tardigrade mRNAs are analysed. We find that 39.3% of the total sequences clustered in 58 clusters of more than 20 proteins. Among these are ten tardigrade specific as well as a number of stress-specific protein clusters. Tardigrade-specific functional adaptations include strong protein, DNA- and redox protection, maintenance and protein recycling. Specific regulatory elements regulate tardigrade mRNA stability such as lox P DICE elements whereas 14 other RNA elements of higher eukaryotes are not found. Further features of tardigrade specific adaption are rapidly identified by sequence and/or pattern search on the web-tool tardigrade analyzer http://waterbear.bioapps.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de. The work-bench offers nucleotide pattern analysis for promotor and regulatory element detection (tardigrade specific; nrdb) as well as rapid COG search for function assignments including species-specific repositories of all analysed data. Conclusion Different protein clusters and regulatory elements implicated in tardigrade stress adaptations are analysed including unpublished tardigrade sequences. Y1 - 2009 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-6461 SN - 1471-2164 VL - 10 IS - 469 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mali, Brahim A1 - Grohme, Markus A1 - Förster, Frank A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Schnölzer, Martina A1 - Reuter, Dirk A1 - Wełnicz, Weronika A1 - Schill, Ralph O. A1 - Frohme, Marcus T1 - Transcriptome survey of the anhydrobiotic tardigrade Milnesium tardigradum in comparison with Hypsibius dujardini and Richtersius coronifer JF - BMC Genomics N2 - The phenomenon of desiccation tolerance, also called anhydrobiosis, involves the ability of an organism to survive the loss of almost all cellular water without sustaining irreversible damage. Although there are several physiological, morphological and ecological studies on tardigrades, only limited DNA sequence information is available. Therefore, we explored the transcriptome in the active and anhydrobiotic state of the tardigrade Milnesium tardigradum which has extraordinary tolerance to desiccation and freezing. In this study, we present the first overview of the transcriptome of M. tardigradum and its response to desiccation and discuss potential parallels to stress responses in other organisms. Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:526-opus4-6207 SN - 1471-2164 VL - 11 IS - 168 ER -