Using Tardigrades and Other Animals to Investigate Adaptations to Extreme Stresses

使用缓步动物和其他动物研究对极端压力的适应

• 批准号: 2028860
• 负责人: Robert Goldstein
• 金额: $ 103.51万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-15 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2028860&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; Tardigrades; Other; Animals; Investigate

The main scientific goal of this project is to discover how certain living organisms can survive some remarkably extreme conditions. Tardigrades are a group of microscopic, eight-legged animals that can survive being dried out, exposed to extreme levels of radiation, or exposed to the vacuum of space. Because some essential biological molecules are damaged by such conditions, to survive and recover from these extreme conditions tardigrades must harbor exceptional protective mechanisms, which are only partially understood and will be investigated in this project. Identifying such mechanisms can suggest possible long-term routes to protecting other fragile biological materials including important biomedical products that have very short shelf lives. Several graduate and undergraduate students and a post-doctoral fellow will be involved in the research. The project will also leverage researchers' abilities with microscopic organisms and microscopes in a program to build low cost, tablet-based microscopes for elementary schools in high-poverty regions. Workshops will be held to train teachers how to build these microscopes and develop lesson plans to incorporate microscope use in their classrooms, and the impacts of this program will be assessed.Tardigrades are among the few animal groups, including certain nematodes, arthropods, and rotifers, that can survive desiccation with loss of nearly all intracellular water. Furthermore, tardigrades tolerate other stresses that some of these other groups do not survive. The goals of this project are to identify new protectants made by tardigrades, understand how some strong protectants work in living organisms, and begin to understand the evolutionary origins of animal protectants. Genetic and molecular studies will be used to identify molecules that contribute to tolerance to desiccation, freezing, oxidative stress, and ionizing radiation, and the mechanisms by which some strong protectants work will be studied. Results from this research have the potential to identify protectant molecules that may be useful for biomedical purposes. The project will also place inexpensive microscopes in elementary schools in high-poverty regions of North Carolina and in other states. In pilot efforts, more than 500 low-cost microscopes have been built, mostly for North Carolina public elementary schools, in teacher workshops held in schools, museums, and at an annual teachers’ conference. This project builds on lessons learned in the pilot efforts, expanding the project by running additional workshops, by training other scientists to run similar workshops in other parts of the country, and by collaboratively assessing key outcomes of the workshops. In addition, the project involves training for one post-doctoral fellow, graduate students, and undergraduate summer researchers, thereby contributing to STEM career development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目的主要科学目标是发现某些生物体如何在极端条件下生存。水熊虫是一群显微镜下的八条腿的动物，它们可以在干燥、暴露于极端辐射或暴露于太空真空中的情况下生存。由于一些重要的生物分子被这种条件破坏，为了在这些极端条件下生存和恢复，缓步动物必须具有特殊的保护机制，这只是部分了解，并将在本项目中进行调查。确定这些机制可以为保护其他脆弱的生物材料，包括保质期很短的重要生物医学产品提供可能的长期途径。几名研究生和本科生以及一名博士后研究员将参与这项研究。该项目还将利用研究人员在微观生物和显微镜方面的能力，为高度贫困地区的小学建造低成本的平板电脑显微镜。将举办研讨会，培训教师如何制造这些显微镜，并制定课程计划，将显微镜的使用纳入课堂，并评估该计划的影响。缓步动物是少数动物群体之一，包括某些线虫、节肢动物和轮虫，可以在几乎所有细胞内水流失的情况下在干燥中生存。此外，缓步动物还能忍受其他一些群体无法生存的压力。这个项目的目标是识别由缓步动物产生的新的保护剂，了解一些强保护剂如何在生物体内起作用，并开始了解动物保护剂的进化起源。遗传和分子研究将用于确定有助于耐受干燥，冷冻，氧化应激和电离辐射的分子，并将研究一些强保护剂的作用机制。这项研究的结果有可能确定可能用于生物医学目的的保护分子。该项目还将在北卡罗来纳州和其他州的高贫困地区的小学放置廉价的显微镜。在试点工作中，已经制造了500多台低成本显微镜，主要用于北卡罗来纳州的公立小学，在学校，博物馆和年度教师会议上举办的教师研讨会。该项目以试点工作中吸取的经验教训为基础，通过举办更多的讲习班、培训其他科学家在该国其他地区举办类似讲习班以及合作评估讲习班的主要成果来扩大该项目。此外，该项目还包括培养一名博士后研究员、研究生和本科生暑期研究员，从而为STEM职业发展做出贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Emerging Model Systems in Developmental Biology

发育生物学中的新兴模型系统

• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Current topics in developmental biology
• 作者: Goldstein, B.;Srivastava, M.
• 通讯作者: Srivastava, M.

A guide to setting up and managing a lab at a research-intensive institution.

• DOI: 10.1186/s12919-021-00214-7
• 发表时间: 2021-06-22
• 期刊: BMC proceedings
• 作者: Goldstein B;Avasthi P
• 通讯作者: Avasthi P

The embryonic origin of primordial germ cells in the tardigrade Hypsibius exemplaris

缓步动物原始生殖细胞的胚胎起源

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2023.02.008
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Developmental Biology
• 影响因子: 2.7
• 作者: Heikes, Kira L.;Game, Mandy;Smith, Frank W.;Goldstein, Bob
• 通讯作者: Goldstein, Bob

Tardigrades

缓步动物

• DOI: 10.1038/s41592-022-01573-5
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Nature Methods
• 影响因子: 48
• 作者: Goldstein, Bob

Tardigrades and their emergence as model organisms

缓步动物及其作为模式生物的出现

• DOI: 10.1016/bs.ctdb.2021.12.008
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Current topics in developmental biology
• 作者: Goldstein, Bob