Prions Make Tardigrades Invincible and Immortal

Tardigrades, or "water bears" are known to be practically invincible - they survive space, radiation, droughts and more. Now, scientists have identified an "intrinsically disordered protein" aka prion that gives them their powers.

One 'practical purpose' being discussed to use tardigrade TDP's is to add them to vaccines. No doubt there are other applications possible, and as well, not a few implications.

…(Tardigrade) genes produced a certain protein, which they named tardigrade-specific intrinsically disordered proteins (TDPs). [aka prions]

…There could be some practical uses to this discovery. For instance in medicine, vaccines often require refrigeration. But in the developing world, it isn’t always available, which makes delivering vaccines to vulnerable, rural communities difficult.

Dr. Boothby believes that we may be able to use TDP to sort of freeze-dry vaccines or medications, for easy storage and transport. What about putting humans in stasis for space travel or when they have terminal diseases, to await a cure? No word on that, yet. Scientists have years of research ahead of them already, just to understand the inner-workings of TDP.

Some believe tardigrades may have “alien” DNA. To find out more, click here:

DNA Dethroned - Inheritance is Protein-Based

…Long story short, it’s NOT our DNA and genes that determine our traits and biological destiny - it’s proteins. Specifically, prions, aka “intrinsically disordered proteins” that can “pass heritable traits from cell to cell by their structure instead of by DNA.” These prions -and the traits they confer- can be inherited;
in humans, some are conserved over hundreds of millions of years.

Oh dear, I can see it now: zombie babies!

I wonder if we can genetically engineer them into actual bear size.

I would have a tardigrade farm, or aquarium i guess

a reply to: soficrow

I don't quite understand "prions" or how they work, but I would like to see this application being used for botanical studies to see if we can grow plants in zero (or low) gravity environments (still with the necessary atmospheric conditions) to see if less gravity = greater yields.

Fascinating! Water Bears are my spirit animal, because ain't sh** gonna stop me!

a reply to: soficrow

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't prions the progenitors of "mad cow disease"? If that is the case, it would seem a tad dangerous to put prions in vaccines.

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: bobs_uruncle

there are many types of prions. not all are harmful

originally posted by: bobs_uruncle
a reply to: soficrow

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't prions the progenitors of "mad cow disease"? If that is the case, it would seem a tad dangerous to put prions in vaccines.

Cheers - Dave

You're not wrong.

originally posted by: dashen
a reply to: bobs_uruncle

there are many types of prions. not all are harmful

You're not wrong either.

Prions are an adaptive evolutionary mechanism - but sometimes they do kick back and cause disease.