Study
Extremotolerant tardigrade genome and improved radiotolerance of human cultured cells by tardigrade-unique protein
Hashimoto, Takuma; Horikawa, Daiki D.; Saito, Yuki; Kuwahara, Hirokazu; Kunieda, Takekazu
Nature Communications, 2016
The genome of an unusually tolerant tardigrade was sequenced, and proteins unique to it identified. One DNA-associated protein was then expressed in cultured human cells, which were irradiated and their DNA damage measured against untransfected controls.
- Studied in
- Ramazzottius varieornatus, Homo sapiens
- Sample size
- genome assembly plus human cell culture assays
A tardigrade-unique protein, named Dsup, associates with DNA and reduces X-ray-induced DNA damage. Human cultured cells expressing it suffered around 40% less DNA damage and tolerated irradiation better. The genome showed expansions in antioxidant and DNA-repair genes.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Tardigrade radiotolerance rests partly on physical protection of DNA by a lineage-specific protein, and that protection is transferable to human cells.
How NatureHQ reads it
This paper is the origin of a great deal of overreach, so the scope is worth stating precisely. Dsup reduced damage in cultured human cells by about 40% — a meaningful, measurable effect in a dish, and not a shield. It also corrected an earlier misconception in passing: an initial report that this genome was full of foreign DNA turned out to be contamination, and this assembly showed otherwise. Radiotolerance in tardigrades is also not an adaptation to radiation, which they never encounter in quantity; it is most likely a side effect of machinery for surviving drying, since desiccation damages DNA in similar ways.
- A cell-culture result, not an organism-level or clinical one.
- One tardigrade species, and Dsup is not universal across the phylum.
- Reduced DNA damage is not the same as protection from the physiological effects of radiation exposure.
Putting a tardigrade protein into a human cell
Why do tardigrades tolerate radiation, and is the mechanism transferable?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Nature PortfolioPublished in a Nature Portfolio journal.
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NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-11.