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The Antioxidant System in the Anhydrobiotic Midge as an Essential, Adaptive Mechanism for Desiccation Survival

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Survival Strategies in Extreme Cold and Desiccation

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1081))

Abstract

One of the major damaging factors for living organisms experiencing water insufficiency is oxidative stress. Loss of water causes a dramatic increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Thus, the ability for some organisms to survive almost complete desiccation (called anhydrobiosis) is tightly related to the ability to overcome extraordinary oxidative stress. The most complex anhydrobiotic organism known is the larva of the chironomid Polypedilum vanderplanki. Its antioxidant system shows remarkable features, such as an expansion of antioxidant genes, their overexpression, as well as the absence or low expression of enzymes required for the synthesis of ascorbate and glutathione and their antioxidant function. In this chapter, we summarize existing data about the antioxidant system of this insect, which is able to cope with substantial oxidative damage, even in an intracellular environment that is severely disturbed due to water loss.

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Abbreviations

ARIds:

Anhydrobiosis-related gene islands

CCS:

Copper chaperone protein

GPx:

Glutathione peroxidase

Grx-like:

Glutaredoxin-like

MPEC:

2-Methyl-6-p-methoxyphenylethynylimidazopyrazinone

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

TRX:

Thioredoxin

TrxR:

Thioredoxin reductase

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Acknowledgments

We extend our gratitude to the Federal Ministry of Environment of Nigeria for permitting research on P. vanderplanki. The work was performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University and was supported by Russian Science Foundation grant for international group 14-44-00022. The work was also supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP17H01511, JP16K07308, JP15H05622, JP25128714, and JP23128512.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia

    Alexander Nesmelov & Oleg Gusev

  2. Molecular Biomimetics Research Unit, Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, NARO, Tsukuba, Japan

    Richard Cornette & Takahiro Kikawada

  3. RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies, RIKEN, Yokohama, Japan

    Oleg Gusev

  4. Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Chiba, Japan

    Takahiro Kikawada

Authors
  1. Alexander Nesmelov
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  2. Richard Cornette
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  3. Oleg Gusev
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  4. Takahiro Kikawada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takahiro Kikawada .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

    Mari Iwaya-Inoue

  2. Center for Biological Resources and Informatics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan

    Minoru Sakurai

  3. United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences and Department of Plant-biosciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Japan

    Matsuo Uemura

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Nesmelov, A., Cornette, R., Gusev, O., Kikawada, T. (2018). The Antioxidant System in the Anhydrobiotic Midge as an Essential, Adaptive Mechanism for Desiccation Survival. In: Iwaya-Inoue, M., Sakurai, M., Uemura, M. (eds) Survival Strategies in Extreme Cold and Desiccation. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1081. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1244-1_14

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