Survey of anti-desiccation and ant-freezing genes in Antarctic nematodes by comparative genome analysis

南极线虫Panagrolaimus davidi是一种耐受干燥和细胞内冷冻的非凡生物。为了阐明耐受性的相关基因，我与英国和新西兰的研究人员合作进行了大规模的转录组和基因组分析，并确定了25，875个转录本。我们挑选了一个候选基因家族的耐受性，莱亚基因，这是只报道生活在极端环境中的生物体。尽管这些特殊的生物通常都有一个或几个莱亚基因，但大卫对虾有过多的（至少14种）莱亚基因。促进这一研究可能有助于在冷冻和/或干燥状态下保存内脏和活体的应用。

The Antarctic nematode, Panagrolaimus davidi, is a remarkable organism that tolerates desiccation and intracellular freezing. To elucidate responsible genes for the tolerances, I have performed large-scale transcriptome and genome analyses in collaboration with the researchers in UK and New Zealand, and identified 25,875 transcripts. We picked up a candidate gene family for the tolerances, LEA genes, which are reported only from organisms living in extreme environments. Although even these special organisms have one or a few LEA genes normally, P. davidi has excess number of (at least 14 types of) LEA genes. Promotion of this research may facilitate the application to preserve internal organs and living bodies in frozen and/or dry state.