Tardigrades have unique stress-adaptations that allows them to survive extremes of cold, heat, radiation and vacuum. It is known that these factors may cause damage to DNA. Moreover, It has been shown that single and double DNA strand breakages occur when Tardigrades are maintained for a long time in the Anhydrobiotic state; Life away from water.
In addition, this may suggest that perhaps Tardigrades rely on efficient DNA repair mechanisms. Furthermore, Among all proteins that comprise the DNA repair system, recombinases such as RecA or Rad51 have a very important function: DNA exchange activity. This enzyme is used in the homologous recombination and allows repair of the damaged strand using homologous non-damaged strands as a template ("The Journal of Limnology").
In a dried-out condition, a Tardigrade can extend its life as much as 60 times its normal life span.