''Ramazzottius'' is a genus of water bear or moss piglet, a
tardigrade
Tardigrades (), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them . In 1776, th ...
in the class
Eutardigrada
Eutardigrada are a class of tardigrades (Tardigrada) without lateral appendages. Primarily freshwater bound, some species have secondarily gained the ability to live in marine environments ('' Halobiotus''). By cryptobiosis many species are able ...
, named after the Italian zoologist
Giuseppe Ramazzotti.
''Ramazzottius varieornatus'' (see image) is a terrestrial
invertebrate
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
that is extroardinarily tolerant of extreme conditions such as irradiation, chemicals, dehydration and high pressure.
This tolerance is linked to the presence of the damage suppressor protein (
Dsup) that binds to
nucleosome
A nucleosome is the basic structural unit of DNA packaging in eukaryotes. The structure of a nucleosome consists of a segment of DNA wound around eight histone, histone proteins and resembles thread wrapped around a bobbin, spool. The nucleosome ...
s providing tolerance to
DNA damage
DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. A weakened capacity for DNA repair is a risk factor for the development of cancer. DNA is constantly modified ...
, such as that caused by ionizing radiation or hydroxyl radicals.
Species
* '' Ramazzottius affinis'' Bertolani, Guidetti and Rebecchi, 1993
* '' Ramazzottius andreevi''
* '' Ramazzottius anomalus'' Ramazzotti, 1962
* '' Ramazzottius baumanni'' Ramazzotti, 1962
* '' Ramazzottius bunikowskae''
* '' Ramazzottius cataphractus'' Maucci, 1974
* '' Ramazzottius caucasicus''
* '' Ramazzottius edmondabouti'' Séméria, 1993
* ''Ramazzottius horningi
''Ramazzottius'' is a genus of water bear or moss piglet, a tardigrada, tardigrade in the class Eutardigrada, named after the Italian zoologist Giuseppe Ramazzotti.
''Ramazzottius varieornatus'' (see image) is a terrestrial invertebrate that is ...
'' Binda and Pilato, 1995
* '' Ramazzottius ljudmilae''
* '' Ramazzottius montivagus'' Dastych, 1983
* '' Ramazzottius novemcinctus'' Marcus, 1936
* '' Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri''
* '' Ramazzottius rupeus'' Biserov, 1999
* '' Ramazzottius saltensis'' Claps and Rossi, 1984
* '' Ramazzottius semisculptus'' Pilato and Rebecchi, 1992
* '' Ramazzottius subanomalus'' Biserov, 1985
* '' Ramazzottius szeptycki'' Dastych, 1980
* '' Ramazzottius theroni'' Dastych, 1993
* '' Ramazzottius thulini'' Pilato, 1970
* '' Ramazzottius tribulosus'' Bertolani and Rebecchi, 1988
* '' Ramazzottius valaamis''
* ' Bertolani and Kinchin, 1993
References
Further reading
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External links
Parachela (tardigrade)
Tardigrade genera
Xerophiles
{{tardigrade-stub