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    Home > Biochemistry News > Biotechnology News > Can the water bear worm resist radiation damage as a single "weapon" damage-suppressing protein Dsup, which binds to human cells?

    Can the water bear worm resist radiation damage as a single "weapon" damage-suppressing protein Dsup, which binds to human cells?

    • Last Update: 2020-08-05
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    Through genetic analysis, scientists have discovered the water bear worm's single "weapon" against radiation damage - the damage-suppressing protein Dsup.
    they also found that the protein also protects other animal cells.
    space travel, Mars settlement, etc., is part of our "sea of stars" vision, but after all, human beings are the naked eye, how to resist space travel or life on other planets may be harmed? Recently, scientists suggested that it might be possible to combine the DNA of the water bear worm with human cells, using its powerful survivability to make astronauts more resistant to the harmful effects of space flight.
    what is the "sacred" of the water bear worm? Can its DNA really bind to human cells? In response, Yang Yuguang, a researcher at the Second Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group, told Science and Technology Daily: "Combining water bear DNA with human cells is not reliable, but also involves ethical issues."
    at present, metal housing and strong magnetic field shielding technology are the mainstream technology for astronauts to resist long-term space radiation.
    "s", "water bear worm vitality strong" "exclusive weapon" who can successfully wake up after 30 years of sleep at minus 20 degrees Celsius; calm in 150 degrees Celsius heat; withstand the vacuum environment of space, carry radiation attacks; and survive in an environment 6 times the pressure of the deep sea? The answer is: Water Bear! Scientists know that the water bear worm is the most powerful species on Earth, and the animal is only about 1 mm in size, and can be seen with a microscope. Chris Mason, a geneticist at Cornell University in the United States
    , told the American Fun Science website that the water bear worm is the only known animal that can survive in space.
    , what are the "secret weapons" of water bear bugs to withstand extreme environments? Scientists have found that water bear worms have more superoxide dismutase genes and more copies of the MRE11 gene than other animals, which can help reduce oxidation damage and repair DNA, thus protecting them.
    , water bear bugs lack genes related to environmental stress, which may help them adapt to harsh environments.
    According to the website of the British journal Nature, September 20, 2016, Japanese scientists have found a single "weapon" for water bear worms to resist radiation damage - the damage-suppressing protein Dsup, which can significantly reduce damage to water bear worm DNA when exposed to X-rays.
    researchers also found that the protein was also protective when placed in other animal cells.
    they had the human-derived cells cultured in the lab express the protein, and the results were 40 percent less dna damage than the control group, when the cells that expressed the Dsup protein remained active and proliferated after receiving X-ray radiation.
    the "human worm bonding" is not reliable and the ethical Mason team intends to build on the findings of the above research, he said, in the future, the DNA of the water bear worm and human cells can be combined to help astronauts long-term protection from space radiation.
    's Interesting Science Network reports that studies have shown that one of the main health problems astronauts face in space travel is radiation exposure.
    If scientists can find a way to help human cells withstand radiation, astronauts will be able to live healthier lives in space.
    , in theory, the technique could also be used to reduce the effects of radiation on healthy cells during cancer treatment.
    While Mason is confident about binding water bear DNA to human cells, Yang Yuguang told reporters: "It's not credible, and it's ethical." "
    The reason why the water bear worm can withstand such a harsh environment, in addition to the genetic reasons described above, is largely due to its small size, " explained Yang Yuguang.
    biophysics tells us that such tiny water bear bugs and another large object, such as a human, are different in a vacuum, including the relationship between the forces that can withstand and the internal and external pressures.
    like a flea body length 0.5-3 mm, but can jump out of the height of 350 mm, equivalent to the length of the body more than 100 times, if human seaves have the ability to jump, can jump to the height of about 340 meters? This is clearly not possible.
    " the same, if the scale of water bear insects to the size of a person, it is equally unable to resist the vacuum environment.
    ," Yang said.
    , Mason says, genetic engineering may be ethical if it makes it safer for humans to live on Mars without affecting their lives on Earth.
    but Yang Yuguang pointed out: "If the DNA of water bear worms is combined with human cells, then, people with exogenous DNA are still human?" This is also a question worth pondering.
    "metal and strong magnetic field" is the "shield" If the method of combining water bear worm DNA with human cells is not reliable, then what can be done to help humans withstand prolonged exposure to space radiation? Yang Yuguang said that scientists are currently trying a variety of methods, but more reliable metal shielding technology and strong magnetic field shielding technology.
    "the so-called metal shielding, is the use of relatively thick metal to create the shell of the spacecraft, shielding space radiation, the defect of this method is that the spacecraft's 'block' the larger the need for more metal, resulting in the spacecraft 'weight' increase, launch costs rise.
    , therefore, this method is suitable for smaller spacecraft.
    "To reduce the size of the spacecraft, scientists came up with the idea of "hibernating" astronauts.
    , NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are working on manned deep space exploration techniques that control astronauts' hibernation,
    .
    ESA has come up with a concept of manned exploration from Earth all the way to Mars, which it considers "controlled 'hibernation' to be a game-changing technology in manned space flight" and has set up a team that specializes in research in the hope of bringing its "dreams to life." "The 'hibernate' astronauts don't need much space, the size and mass of the spacecraft can be greatly reduced, and the technical difficulty and cost of radiation protection can be significantly reduced," said Yang Yuguang,
    .
    ", "But this technology is still a beautiful vision and has not materialized."
    how to ensure the safety of "hibernation" technology - both to ensure that astronauts wake up on time, but also to prevent "hibernation" to cause serious damage to the astronauts' bodies, there are many technical problems to be solved.
    as far as magnetic field shielding, European scientists are now planning to use magnetic fields to surround spacecraft, like the magnetosphere around the Earth, to protect astronauts from space radiation, according to foreign media reports.
    the project, called Space Radiation Superconductive Shielding (SR2S), which uses superconducting magnets to produce a magnetic field 3,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetosphere, which alters the path of charged particles, and SR2S creates a 30-foot (10-meter) cosmic ray deflection field around the spacecraft.
    but Yang Yuguang also pointed out that the magnetic field shielding method is also a double-edged sword, because the strong magnetic field itself will cause harm to the human body.
    "how to make strong magnetic fields better protect against radiation without harming the human body, is also a huge challenge.
    "From Columbus to the discovery of the New World, to man to the moon, to Mars, and more distant future, the way for man kind of exploration of the universe has never been easy, but this does not stop mankind from moving into outer space, " the road is long, I will go up and down.
    with the advent of new technologies, the exploration of the new world will certainly be more open.
    Source: Liu Xia, Science and Technology Daily.
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