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Ancient Antarctic Bacteria Revived

Posted by michael on from the better-get-your-flu-shot dept.

Danny Rathjens writes "Frozen bacteria from Antarctica, estimated to be between five to eight million years old, were brought back to life simply by warming them up! NASA folks also participated since they think this can give them better clues on where to look for life on Mars."

5 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Re:YAY by clausiam · · Score: 4, Informative
    oh GREAT! Lets just go and revive ancient bacteria that could be a deadly virus!

    Umm - how can a BACTERIA be a VIRUS since these are completely different organisms?

    /Claus

  2. 8 million years is nothing. by eggstasy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Around 1995 scientists extracted bacteria from an insect's stomach, that had been trapped in amber for 125 million years, and they lived.
    A few years later, scientists revived bacteria that had been dormant inside a crystal of common table salt for 250 million years!
    Even so, Mars has been geologically dead for 1.5 billion years, so I don't know how how these paltry 8 million years are suddenly so significant.

    1. Re:8 million years is nothing. by Euphonious+Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
      The bacteria from bugs were, in fact, extracted from the crops of bees embedded in amber. The bacteria are of a type that is symbiotic with the bee.

      My wife's cousin Sid was on the team analyzing the heritage of these bacteria (actually, I think, their mitochondria). They were able to demonstrate that the strain extracted was ancestral to those found in various species of modern bees.

      Normally, when you publish stuff like this, everyone insists that the bacteria you have must have come from contamination on your equipment, and didn't really come out of the bee at all. To prove them wrong you have to show that the bacteria are quantifiably different from any modern strain.

  3. Re:Seeds might also be revivable by Noofus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Every living thing that we have discovered on thsi planet so far has DNA. Everything. "Modern" (Eukaryotic) multi-celled and many single eleed organisms keep their DNA in the cell nuclei. Most bacteria (but not all) are of the "non-modern" (Prokaryotic) type. Their DNA just floats around in their cells. However they ALL have DNA.

    Even viruses, which are debatable as to their status as organisms keep DNA around (though a few are RNA based and known as retro viruses. HIV is an example)

  4. Re:The geeky perspective... by sd211 · · Score: 3, Informative

    When you freeze mammalian cells, you do not have to use DMSO, 100% FBS will do. Besides, mammalian cells have not adopted to being frozen. Bacteria often do, especially soil ones. In addition, some organisms sporulate and spores are very resistant to harsh treatment. It is not surprising to me that bacteria sutvived that long, although it is definetely unusual.