If you're fascinated with nature's oddities, you might already know abouttardigrades, a phylum that includes more than 1,200 species of eight-legged creatures that typically are no bigger than 0.02 inches (0.5 millimeter in length). As this2012年史密森尼文章details, the tardigrade's claim to fame is the ability of some tardigrade species to survive even in incredibly harsh extreme environments, from boiling springs to the icy peaks of mountains in the Himalayas. In一个实验, tardigrades — without tiny astronaut suits to protect them — even survived the vacuum of space, with its extreme cold and high levels of radiation.
How the miniscule animals do that is even more amazing. Some species have the capacity to achieve different forms and varying degrees ofcryptobiosis, a state in which an organism's metabolic activity essentially slows to a standstill when living conditions are hostile. They've been known to生存多年that way.
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隐孢子虫病是五角大楼希望能够复制的一种极端生存技巧，以防止受伤的士兵死亡，然后才能将其运送到医院。这就是为什么Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA), the military's research arm, recently created the Biostasis program, a scientific effort to use molecular biology to lengthen the so-called "golden hour" of battlefield survival following a traumatic injury.
正如达帕（Darpa）在news release: "Essentially, the concept aims to slow life to save life."
It's All About Cryptobiology
DARPA Biostasis program managerTristan McClure-Begley在一封电子邮件中解释说：“生物群的重点是增加我们对如何最好地干预分子过程的知识xf187手机版可用于治疗病人或受伤的军事人员。
"We used the science ofcryptobiology— of which tardigrades are one of the most excellent and extreme examples — as a set of biological principles from which to craft the goals, scope, and potential technological approaches of the Biostasis program. We looked at what was known about how many different cryptobiotic organisms can do what they do at the molecular level, asked 'what is a unifying factor or core principle in common?', and then looked at what was cutting-edge across the fields of molecular pharmacology, materials chemistry, peptide chemistry, and so on and tried to envision approaches that could mimic those core mechanisms were they introduced into cells as chemical biology therapies," says McClure-Begley.
In astudy研究人员在2017年3月16日发表的《科学杂志》杂志上发表了结论，Tardigrades击中生物暂停按钮的能力来自控制应激反应性蛋白质，称为Tardigrade特异性本质上无序蛋白质（TDPS）。这样新科学家文章解释说，当动物处于危险状态时，TDP从通常的果冻般的稠度转变为类似玻璃的刚度。这反过来降低了细胞的柔韧性并保护它们免受损害。
但是目前尚不清楚如何在人体内部复制该过程，尤其是因为DARPA排除了任何需要更改的技术人类基因组。McClure-Begley解释说：“可能是基于肽疗法的原则，即那些细胞内的潜水应激响应蛋白最终是一种成功的方法。”“但是我们在Biostasis计划公告中陈述的警告是，任何干预措施都必须被动地应用于该系统以进行效果。”
Instead, the agency is hoping to come up with a drug that could be administered to have a similar effect. Assuming that's possible, another problem is how to bring a wounded soldier in suspended animation out of that state safely. It may be that the biostasis drug will have a temporary effect that eventually wears off, or that it can be counteracted by another drug.
麦克卢尔·贝格利说：“例如，您不仅要服用阿司匹林，再也不会再服用阿司匹林了。”“由于药物被代谢并从系统中稀释时，这种效果会消失。药物的其他作用可以通过特定的拮抗化合物或其他干预措施来逆转。”
This all could require many years of research. The DARPA Biostasis program recently invited outside companies and researchers to apply for grants, in hopes of generating possible technologies that would be subjected to extensive testing.
William R. Miller, director of research in the biology department at Baker University in Kansas and an expert on tardigrades, says in an email that duplicating the animals' survival method would be a challenge, because of humans' size and greater complexity. It's difficult to imagine a person, for example, imitating tardigrades' ability to engage in硬藻— a type of cryptobiosis in which the animal removes the moisture from its body. "Envision walking down a hall, feeling dry — and immediately shriveling into a crusty ball of dust — say about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of dust — in the middle of the hallway, and then waiting for the humidity to return to a level so you can rehydrate. [That] does not sound practical."
But Miller isn't ruling out the possibility. "Space travel and self-driving cars were not practical when I was born," he notes.
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