Yuta Kawarasaki

TL;DR: RNA sequencing was used to quantify transcriptional mechanisms of extreme dehydration tolerance in the Antarctic midge, Belgica antarctica, the world’s southernmost insect and only insect endemic to Antarctica, and metabolomics results revealed shifts in metabolite pools that correlated closely with changes in gene expression, indicating that coordinated changes in genes expression and metabolism are a critical component of the dehydration response.

TL;DR: It is preferable, both from a survival and energetic standpoint, for larvae to seek dry microhabitats where they can avoid inoculative freezing and remain unfrozen during RCE, suggesting that the total time spent frozen determines the physiological response.

TL;DR: Belgica AQP is a homolog of dehydration-inducible AQP of another chironomid, Polypedilum vanderplanki and transcriptional expression was not affected by either dehydration or rehydration, in contrast to the expectation.

TL;DR: The data agree with known metabolic adaptations to stress in B. antarctica, although a few discrepancies between gene expression patterns and downstream metabolite contents point to fluxes that are not controlled at the level of transcription.

TL;DR: A novel mechanism illuminates a previously undescribed stage of the life cycle of the meroplanktonic diatoms that bloom in Lake Erie and other Great Lakes during winter and offers a model relevant to aquatic ecosystems having seasonal ice cover around the world.