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Letter

Nature Materials 5, 632–635 (1 August 2006) | doi:10.1038/nmat1681

Organization and mobility of water in amorphous and crystalline trehalose

Duncan Kilburn , Sam Townrow , Vincent Meunier , Robert Richardson , Ashraf Alam & Job Ubbink

The disaccharide trehalose is accumulated by microorganisms, such as yeasts, and multicellular organisms, such as tardigrades, when conditions of extreme drought occur. In this way these organisms can withstand dehydration through the formation of an intracellular carbohydrate glass, which, with its high viscosity and hydrogen-bonding interactions, stabilizes and protects the integrity of complex biological structures and molecules.