MASU biologists contribute to the knowledge base of the unique Russian animals

• 14.09.2020
• 1399

Students of MASU biology department made their contribution to the knowledgebase about unique animals of Russia. Lecturers and students of the MASU department of natural sciences took part in the Russian-Japanese project on the study of unique extremophilic organisms of the two countries.

Extremophiles are organisms that can survive in extreme environmental conditions, such as low pressure, lack of light, severe cold or heat.

Scientists of the «Extreme Biology» laboratory of Kazan State University became interested in organisms with unique survival abilities and launched a competition for voluntary genome sequencing. They want to create a knowledgebase about unique animals of Russia.

The research team consisting of Professor of the MASU department of natural sciences Elena Mitina, biology students Olga Zadirakina and Yaroslav Pirogov, head of the Technopark «Quantorium-51» laboratory Natalia Viktorovna Ikko and a 10th grade student Ekaterina Degteva won the competition.

The team submitted an essay about a group of small invertebrates called collembolans that live in the intertidal zone of the Kola Bay. These animals have unique ability to adapt to low temperatures thanks to a special strategy — cryoprotective dehydration.

Now MASU biologists are conducting fieldwork together with the «Quantorium-51» team. They hope that the collected biological material will allow them to study the genome and find out the mechanism of temperature adaptation of these animals.

Translated by Gleb Ryabov
MA Candidate in Translation studies (Linguistics) — MASU