science
Giant Isopods Carry Bacterial Gene That Aids Long Starvation Survival
A study published June 5 in Cell shows that deep-sea isopods of the genus Bathynomus acquired the ND1 gene from bacteria more than 16 million years ago. The gene appears to lower cellular energy use and raised starvation survival by 37 percent in engineered fish tested in cold conditions.
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Researchers reported June 5 that giant isopods living about one kilometer below the ocean surface carry multiple copies of a bacterial gene that helps them endure years without food. The findings appeared in the journal Cell. Specimens of Bathynomus jamesi were collected by submersible near China’s Hainan Island.
Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences compared their genomes and anatomy with those of a smaller isopod from 300 meters depth and a shoreline species. The deep-sea animals possess stomachs that occupy up to two-thirds of the body cavity and retain several copies of the ND1 gene, which entered an ancestral isopod’s DNA from a bacterium more than 16 million years ago.
Laboratory fish engineered to express ND1 showed a 37 percent increase in survival time under starvation in cold water.
Jianbo Yuan, a marine biologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Qingdao, said the gene appears to reduce cellular energy consumption. Some captive giant isopods have survived more than five years without eating, and individuals can reach nearly half a meter in length.
Yang Li, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor who was not involved in the study, noted that the isopods illustrate how traits can arise through acquisition and domestication of microbial genes rather than solely through modification of existing ones.
