Chromosomes remain individualized through interphase in embryos of the tardigrade <i>Hypsibius exemplaris</i>.

ABSTRACT: Tardigrades are microscopic animals that can survive exceptional levels of ionizing radiation or desiccation - DNA-damaging conditions that would kill most animals. Irradiation or radiomimetic drug treatment of the tardigrade Hypsibius exemplaris can induce remarkably high expression levels of DNA repair genes, primarily those in the base excision repair and nonhomologous end joining pathways. How tardigrades can repair widespread DNA damage without producing frequent, large-scale chromosome structural abnormalities, like chromosome translocations and fusions, is unknown. Here, we report the results of examining chromosome and nuclear architecture throughout the cell cycle in early embryos of H. exemplaris. We found that H. exemplaris chromosomes are maintained in an i

SUBMITTER: Papell LD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12324294 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature