Abstract
Leeuwenhoek first described anhydrobiosis in an aquatic microinvertebrate, the bdelloid rotifer, over 300 years ago. Initial studies suggest that the molecular mechanisms of desiccation tolerance in these fascinating animals are different to those in other organisms. Thus, bdelloids lack the non-reducing disaccharide, trehalose, and have atypical LEA proteins, although they do have powerful antioxidation systems. Bdelloids also have a remarkable capacity to acquire foreign genes by horizontal gene transfer, some of which are implicated in anhydrobiosis, suggesting that bdelloid anhydrobiosis might also involve tolerance mechanisms adopted from other organisms.
