Anhydrobiosis can be described as an adaptation to lack of water that enables some organisms, including tardigrades, to survive extreme conditions, even some that do not exist on Earth. The cellular mechanisms underlying anhydrobiosis are still not completely explained including the putative contribution of mitochondrial proteins. Since mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX), described as a drought response element in plants, was recently proposed for various invertebrates including tardigrades, we investigated whether AOX is involved in successful anhydrobiosis of tardigrades. Milnesium inceptum was used as a model for the study. We confirmed functionality of M. inceptum AOX and estimated its contribution to the tardigrade revival after anhydrobiosis of different durations. We observed that AOX activity was particularly important for M. inceptum revival after the long-term tun stage but did not affect the rehydration stage specifically. The results may contribute to our understanding and then application of anhydrobiosis underlying mechanisms.

中文翻译：

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线粒体替代氧化酶促成成功的tardigrade脱水

脱水生物被描述为对缺水的一种适应，使某些生物（包括缓坡生物）能够在极端条件下生存，甚至是地球上不存在的某些条件。脱水生物的潜在细胞机制仍未完全解释，包括线粒体蛋白的推测作用。由于线粒体替代氧化酶（AOX）被描述为植物中的干旱响应因子，最近被提议用于包括无脊椎动物在内的各种无脊椎动物，因此我们调查了AOX是否成功参与了无脊椎动物的脱水生物。Millenium Inceptum被用作该研究的模型。我们确认了肠粘膜支原体AOX的功能，并估计了其在不同持续时间的脱水生物作用后对缓坡复兴的贡献。我们观察到AOX活性对于M尤为重要。长期调整期后肠腔恢复，但并没有特别影响补液阶段。结果可能有助于我们理解和应用脱水生物潜在机制。