Fig. 1. Heterologous expression of tardigrade Dsup in budding yeast promotes survival after chronic exposure to an oxidative DNA damaging agent, reduces related DNA damage, and extends lifespan upon chronic endogenous oxidative damage.

(a). Comparative immunoblot (three dilutions of protein extracts loaded as indicated) of Dsup-FLAG (from pTDH3–6His-Dsup-FLAG) and H2B-FLAG in yeast strains containing a single integrated copy of each tagged gene (Methods and Suppl. Table 2). (b). Five-fold serial dilutions of strains plated on indicated concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), Zeocin, or after exposure to UV. yap1Δ is a positive control for sensitivity to oxidative DNA damage (H₂O₂); cac1Δrtt106Δ is a positive control for sensitivity to other tested agents. (c). [8-OHdG] increase (mean and standard deviation from three independent experiments; ** = p < 0.01) in response to oxidative DNA damage (120 minutes exposure to 10 mM H₂O₂). (d). Replicative lifespan of yeast undergoing chronic oxidative damage (sod1Δ −/+ Dsup; n=30 individuals for each background).