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Research Scientist Silvia SanchezMartinez and Assistant Professor Thomas Boothby use molecular engineering to understand how proteins in microscopic tardigrades survive extreme conditions.
SILVIA SANCHEZ-MARTINEZ & THOMAS BOOTHBY — TARDIGRADE PROTEINS Imagine a protein that could help preserve blood without refrigeration — saving those injured in battle — or preserve an organ for transplantation or protect astronauts from negative health outcomes in space. Senior Research Scientist Silvia Sanchez-Martinez and Department of Molecular Biology Assistant Professor Thomas Boothby are studying these unique proteins here at UW. Specifically, they study tardigrade proteins. Measuring less than half a millimeter long, tardigrades are also known as water bears because they look like little bears floating in the water. These microscopic creatures can survive extreme conditions, including being completely dried out, being frozen to just above absolute zero (about minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit, when all molecular motion stops), heated to more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit and irradiated several thousand times beyond what a human could withstand. They can even survive the vacuum of outer space. Tardigrades survive these conditions by using proteins that form gels inside of cells to slow down life processes. This new research is being conducted by Sanchez-Martinez and a team of associates from University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of California-Merced, the University of Bologna in Italy and the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
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This research shows that these same proteins can also slow down molecular processes in human cells. “Amazingly, when we introduce these proteins into human cells, they gel and slow down metabolism, just like in tardigrades,” SanchezMartinez says. “Furthermore, just like tardigrades, when you put human cells that have these proteins into biostasis, they become more resistant to stresses, conferring some of the tardigrades’ abilities to the human cells.” Boothby adds, “When the stress is relieved, the tardigrade gels dissolve, and the human cells return to their normal metabolism.” Previous research conducted by Boothby’s team showed that natural and engineered versions of tardigrade proteins can be used to stabilize an important pharmaceutical used to treat people with hemophilia and other conditions without the need for refrigeration. “No other organism has these proteins,” Sanchez-Martinez says. “We are trying to learn as much as we can about them. Maybe one works on metabolism, but maybe another one is very good at protecting membranes. We are going to keep exploring the mechanisms they use to protect themselves so we can apply them to humans. Using molecular engineering, we can then make them better at protecting things under different stresses.”