Extremophile Abilities


Tardigrades are extremophile animals being extremely hardy to survive extreme conditions. It is capable of very low metabolic rate of 0.1% during hibernation when it is faced with harsh and dry conditions, and can continue in this state for a very long time, with some being revived even after 120 years, albeit only for a few minutes before dying. They are able to revive themselves remarkably by substituting the water in the membrane lipids with trehalose (sugar). They then curl up into a small ball, known as a ‘tun’. The tardigrade’s metabolism will drop to 0.1% of what is normal. To return from its anhydrobiotic state, tardigrades need only be exposed to water. They can even be regenerated after up to sixty years, though the regular life expectancy of a tardigrades is less than 1 year. 
They can survive in space where there is exposure to vacuum, extreme heat and UV rays from the sun, including high doses of gamma and X-rays which would have killed a human 500 times over. In this condition, they can survive for a period of 10 days.
Tardigrades can withstand high pressure of 6000 Earthen atmosphere to a low pressure as vacuum.
High concentration of alcohol most likely will not kill tardigrades. Even exposure to temperatures of 151 degrees Celsius for a few minutes or frozen to -200 degrees Celsius for days or even down to -272 degrees Celsius for a few minutes would not harm these extremophiles. 


Source:  

No comments:

Post a Comment