trehalose
TREE-huh-lohss
Definition
A type of sugar that protects an organism's cells from damage caused by freezing and drying by stabilizing membranes and proteins.
Etymology
The name is derived from 'trehala,' a type of manna found on certain shrubs, combined with the chemical suffix '-ose' used to denote a sugar.
In the news
In the article, the authors explain that the worms produced trehalose to safeguard their internal structures while in a state of suspended animation, allowing them to survive for tens of thousands of years.
A worm frozen in Siberian permafrost for 46,000 years — since woolly mammoths still roamed — was thawed in a lab dish and simply woke up, began eating, and started reproducing, because its species can shut its metabolism down to a complete standstill in
Read the full article ↗ScienceBlog.com