It’s hard to explain the evolution, Shain says, but it’s possible the worms stole a chunk of genetic material that’s been seen in high-altitude fungi. The alteration appears to help speed up the production of ATP. “It’s an extraordinary machine,” Shain says.īut ice worms have an added tweak in their machinery, an extra bit in the DNA that creates ATP synthase. The molecule is close to 100 percent efficient in its work-unheard of for any invention outside the natural world. It’s made using a complex enzyme, called ATP synthase, which is virtually identical in all known organisms. ATP serves as the currency of energy in cells, and it powers most reactions in the body. It all relates to a special molecule known as ATP, short for adenosine triphosphate. Research by Shain and Lang, who completed her doctorate in Shain’s lab, helps explain why in a series of papers published in recent years. “Their energy levels go up as they get colder,” Shain says. While warm-blooded animals must burn energy to keep a relatively constant temperature, cold-blooded creatures become sluggish and even go dormant when it gets too cold. The laws of biology dictate that as temperatures dive, bodily reactions slow and energy levels drop. “And I have little doubt they will disappear one day,” if glaciers continue to melt at their current rate. “We want to find out as much about the worms as we can before they disappear,” says Shirley Lang, a biologist at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. Learning more about how these animals tolerate extremes can help us understand the limits of life on Earth and beyond, says Daniel Shain, a Rutgers University researcher who has studied the animals for 25 years.īut as glaciers are vanishing, so are ice worms. So how do ice worms do it? Scientists have discovered some of the worms’ tricks, noting that understanding these biological oddballs is surprisingly relevant-and urgent. This would be impossible for most creatures, especially cold-blooded ones without any insulation, like worms. These distant relatives of earthworms survive in layers of ice-cold water within the snow and ice, thriving at water’s freezing point. Then they burrow back into the ice at dawn-and during the winter, disappear into the frozen depths. Vast numbers of the tiny black worms emerge on summer afternoons and evenings to feed on algae, microbes, and other detritus on the surface. Measuring about a half-inch in length and thin as threads of dental floss, ice worms ( Mesenchytraeus solifugus) dot glaciers throughout the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Alaska. Most prominent among these in western North America are ice worms. But there’s much more than meets the eye: Glaciers are home to a host of tiny organisms that make up a flourishing frigid ecosystem. At first glance, a glacier looks like a rather lifeless thing-a barren chunk of ice.
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