The water bear that is scientifically known as the tardigrade, is the world's toughest micro animal as scientists successfully sequenced the genome of the creature, revealing that nearly one fifth of its DNA are foreign in origin.

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This tardigrade is almost invisible to human eyes as its average body measurement is roughly 1.5 millimeters, which is also considered to be one of the toughest animals on the planet due to its ability to withstand extreme temperatures and weather conditions, from absolute zero degrees to more than 100 degrees Celsius. This microcreature can even survive the deepest ocean trenches, with pressures more than six times.

it's not surprising for some animals to be composed of foreign DNA but scientists were curious to find that the this water creature is made up of 17.5 percent of foreign DNA. According to co-author of the study, Bob Goldstein from the University of North Carolina, the team had no clue that this animal's genome will be composed of so much foreign DNA.

Many animals are known to acquire foreign genes but the tardigrade possesses the most foreign DNA than any other. To prove this, most animals have less than one percent of foreign DNA and the rotifer which is a freshwater zooplankton, and previously held the record of the most foreign DNA in any animal, had only half of the tardigrade's foreign DNA.

This new study explains how foreign DNA links to the resistance of extreme conditions and also sheds light about how DNA can be inherited. According to the lead author of the study, Thomas Boothby, the tardigrades possess more than 6,000 foreign genes, which are taken from bacteria, fungi and Archaea via a process called horizontal gene transfer where two species exchange genetic material as opposed to inheriting all DNA from their parents.

Boothby adds that animals that can survive stressful environments and extreme conditions are prone to acquire foreign genes and usually, genes from bacteria can adapt better to stresses than other animals'. 

However, the team believes that the DNA of the water bear can be broken and damaged when exposed to the most extreme environments and once they are back to their normal environment, the cellular membrane and nucleus of the tardigrade becomes leaky, allowing DNA to be absorbed, repairing the destroyed DNA. 

This new study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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