Resurrection of worms

Video of rehydrated C. elegans Dauers

The dauer larva of the soil worm Caenorhabditis elegans can be desiccated and rehydrated. During desiccation, they lose most of their body water but they stay alive in a suspended animation state known as anhydrobiosis. In this video, we show how dry worms come back to life in several minutes after addition of water (we reported in August 2011).

This Youtube video was originally published as a supplementary material to the following article:

Erkut C., Penkov S., Fahmy K. and Kurzchalia T.V. How worms survive desiccation: Trehalose pro water. Worm 1(1):60--64 (2012). dx.doi.org/10.4161/worm.19040