bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/122309; this version posted September 4, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Draft genome of the Heterotardigrade Milnesium tardigradum sheds light on ecdysozoan evolution Felix Bemm1,2*, Laura Burleigh3, Frank Förster1,4, Roland Schmucki5, Martin Ebeling5, Christian J. Janzen6, Thomas Dandekar1, Ralph O. Schill7, Ulrich Certa5, Jörg Schultz1,4 1 Department of Bioinformatics, University Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany 2 Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tübingen, Germany 3 Roche Products Limited, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom 4 Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology (CCTB), 97074 Würzburg, Germany 5 Pharmaceutical Sciences, Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Roche Innovation Center Basel, 124 Grenzacherstrasse, Basel CH 4070, Switzerland 6 Department of Zoology I, Biocenter, University Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany 7 Institute of Biomaterials and biomolecular Systems, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany * E-Mail:
[email protected] bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/122309; this version posted September 4, 2017. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Abstract Tardigrades are among the most stress tolerant animals and survived even unassisted exposure to space in low earth orbit. Still, the adaptations leading to these unusual physiological features remain unclear.