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

南极线虫Panagrolaimus Davidi是一种非凡的生物，它耐受干燥和细胞内的冻结。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。我们挑选了耐受性的候选基因家族，LEA基因，这些基因只在生活在极端环境中的生物体中被报道。虽然即使是这些特殊的生物通常也有一个或几个LEA基因，但P.Davidi的LEA基因数量过多(至少有14种)。这项研究的推广可能会促进将内脏和活体保存在冷冻和/或干燥状态的应用。

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.