Macrotrachela quadricornifera featured in a space experiment

Macrotrachela quadricornifera, a bdelloid rotifer, is the animal model of an experiment scheduled on the International Space Station (ISS). The focus of the experiment is the role of the cytoskeleton during oogenesis and early development. Bdelloids will fly desiccated, be rehydrated on the ISS and cultivated for five generations. We present the outline of the ISS experiment, the expectations and the state-of-the-art of ground-based research run to date on the major topics of the planned experiment: anhydrobiosis and embryogenesis. Anhydrobiosis focuses on two major aspects, storage conditions that enhance recovery rate and comparison of the resistance between dormant and active rotifers to UV radiation and other environmental injuries. Embryogenesis has been approached at the morphological level under ground conditions: developing embryos have been studied by light and confocal microscopes.