Deep-sea megafauna co-opts microbial energy metabolism genes to withstand ultra-long starvation.
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Deep-sea megafauna co-opt microbial energy genes, like ND1, to survive over 5 years of starvation, revealing a novel evolutionary adaptation.
- Why it matters: Understanding how large animals endure extreme energy scarcity addresses fundamental questions about survival in harsh environments and may inform biological resilience mechanisms.
- What they did: Researchers identified the horizontal transfer and high expression of the microbial gene ND1 in deep-sea isopods, using genomic, physiological, and functional assays across multiple species.
- The result: ND1 reduces basal metabolic rate by downregulating energy genes, extending starvation endurance, and demonstrating how exogenous microbial genes can be epigenetically optimized for extreme survival.