Transcriptional response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to desiccation and rehydration.

A transcriptional analysis of the response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BY4743 to controlled air-drying (desiccation) and subsequent rehydration under minimal glucose conditions was performed. Expression of genes involved in fatty acid oxidation and the glyoxylate cycle was observed to increase during drying and remained in this state during the rehydration phase. When the BY4743 expression profile for the dried sample was compared to that of a commercially prepared dry active yeast, strikingly similar expression changes were observed.

Desiccation tolerance of prokaryotes: application of principles to human cells.

The loss of water from cells is a stress that was likely imposed very early in evolution. An understanding of the sensitivity or tolerance of cells to depletion of intracellular water is relevant to the study of quiescence, longevity and aging, because one consequence of air-drying is full metabolic arrest, sometimes for extended periods. When considering the adaptation of cells to physiological extremes of pH, temperature or pressure, it is generally assumed that evolution is driven toward optimum function rather than maximum stability.

UV irradiation and desiccation modulate the three-dimensional extracellular matrix of Nostoc commune (Cyanobacteria).

Cyanobacterium Nostoc commune can tolerate the simultaneous stresses of desiccation, UV irradiation, and oxidation. Acidic WspA, of approximately 33.6 kDa, is secreted to the three-dimensional extracellular matrix and accounts for greater than 70% of the total soluble protein.

Long term metabolic arrest and recovery of HEK293 spheroids involves NF-kappaB signaling and sustained JNK activation.

Understanding how cells withstand a depletion of intracellular water is relevant to the study of longevity, aging, and quiescence because one consequence of air-drying is metabolic arrest. After removal of medium, HEK293 spheroids with intracellular water content of approximately 65% survived partial vacuum, with antistatic control, for weeks in the dark at 25 degrees C. In contrast, only a limited exposure of monolayers to air was lethal; the mitochondrion being a target of this stress.

Unusual water flux in the extracellular polysaccharide of the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune.

The speed of water uptake by desiccated Nostoc commune was found to depend upon the duration of desiccation. The rehydration of desiccated colonies led to marked, time-dependent changes in structure and ultrastructure and fluctuations in the composition of the transcriptome. Physical evaporative water loss is an active process that was influenced by inhibitors of transcription and translation.

Genomic DNA of Nostoc commune (Cyanobacteria) becomes covalently modified during long-term (decades) desiccation but is protected from oxidative damage and degradation.

Genomic DNA of Nostoc commune (Cyanobacteria) became covalently modified during decades of desiccation. Amplification of gene loci from desiccated cells required pretreatment of DNA with N-phenacylthiazolium bromide, a reagent that cleaves DNA- and protein-linked advanced glycosylation end-products. DNA from 13 year desiccated cells did not show any higher levels of the commonly studied oxidatively modified DNA damage biomarkers 8-hydroxyguanine, 8-hydroxyadenine and 5-hydroxyuracil, compared to commercially available calf thymus DNA.

Desiccation tolerance: a simple process?

Water is essential for life, and thus the removal of water from a cell is a severe, often lethal stress. This is not a remarkable observation but it is one that is often taken for granted. Desiccation-tolerant cells implement structural, physiological and molecular mechanisms to survive severe water deficit.

Gene transfer to the desiccation-tolerant cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis.

The coccoid cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis dominates microbial communities in the most extreme arid hot and cold deserts. These communities withstand constraints that result from multiple cycles of drying and wetting and/or prolonged desiccation, through mechanisms which remain poorly understood. Here we describe the first system for genetic manipulation of Chroococcidiopsis.

Engineering desiccation tolerance in Escherichia coli.

Recombinant sucrose-6-phosphate synthase (SpsA) was synthesized in Escherichia coli BL21DE3 by using the spsA gene of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803. Transformants exhibited a 10,000-fold increase in survival compared to wild-type cells following either freeze-drying, air drying, or desiccation over phosphorus pentoxide.

Active Fe-containing superoxide dismutase and abundant sodF mRNA in Nostoc commune (Cyanobacteria) after years of desiccation.

Active Fe-superoxide dismutase (SodF) was the third most abundant soluble protein in cells of Nostoc commune CHEN/1986 after prolonged (13 years) storage in the desiccated state. Upon rehydration, Fe-containing superoxide disumutase (Fe-SOD) was released and the activity was distributed between rehydrating cells and the extracellular fluid. The 21-kDa Fe-SOD polypeptide was purified, the N terminus was sequenced, and the data were used to isolate sodF from the clonal isolate N.