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Microbes 100M Years Old Found In Termite Guts
viyh writes with coverage on MSNBC of the discovery of ancient microbes fossilized in the gut of a termite. "One hundred million years ago a termite was wounded and its abdomen split open. The resin of a pine tree slowly enveloped its body and the contents of its gut. In what is now the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar, the resin fossilized and was buried until it was chipped out of an amber mine. The resin had seeped into the termite's wound and preserved even the microscopic organisms in its gut. These microbes are the forebears of the microbes that live in the guts of today's termites and help them digest wood. ... The amber preserved the microbes with exquisite detail, including internal features like the nuclei. ... Termites are related to cockroaches and split from them in evolutionary time at about the same time the termite in the amber was trapped."
I mean, we *could* clone the microbes preserved in amber.. But that's just not as exciting, is it?
One hundred million years ago a termite was wounded and its abdomen split open
That would make a better film than most of the crap out there at the moment.
Seems even better than mummification for preserving the dead. We should figure out how to make it, and stick some creatures from our own time in it, including larger specimens for future paleontologists to ponder over. Like, famous politicians, as a reward for their service.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1026340/Jurassic-Park-comes-true-How-scientists-bringing-dinosaurs-life-help-humble-chicken.html According to Jack Horner, professor of palaeontology at Montana State University, the answer is an unequivocal yes. He says: "Of course we can bring them back to life. Their ancestral DNA is still present. "The science is there. I don't think there are any barriers, other than the philosophical."
Is it just me, or does the summary read like the start of a legend that serves as prelude to an epic adventure?
I want to go on a quest to this "Myanmar" place and find the termite amber and throw it into the nearest volcano before the Evil One's minions get their hands on it.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
*Cough* ...these microbes killed all the dinosaurs and now they have got m
Sounds like the work of Microsoft.
Don't you mean 6,000?
This is my signature. There are many signatures like it, but this one is mine.
Just clone the meat! Delicious dinosaur meat.
Quack, quack.
If you, as I, accept Lynn Margulis's hypothesis, parasitic and symbiotic interactions with microbes play a much stronger role in driving evolutionary diversification than "random" mutations of the genome.
The only reasonable ref I could find quickly is from 1991: Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary Innovation: Speciation and Morphogenesis.
-- Our systemic servants do not good masters make.
Some primal termite knocked on wood.
And tasted it, and found it good.
And that is why your Cousin May
Fell through the parlor floor today.
-- Ogden Nash
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Without the protozoa, the termite would starve. Meanwhile, the protozoa would quickly die outside of the termite, resulting in a relationship of dependence between the animals that scientists call "mutualism."
From the Symbiosis article:
The definition of symbiosis is in flux, and the term has been applied to a wide range of biological interactions. The symbiotic relationship may be categorized as being mutualistic, parasitic, or commensal in nature. Others define it more narrowly, as only those relationships from which both organisms benefit, in which case it would be synonymous with mutualism.
Hmm, live and learn.
Jurassic Amoeba... coming to theaters everywhere Summer 2009. ...it's not the veloci-raptor this time, it's the fearsome mitosis!
It's easy to find, it's north of Kampuchea, to the west of French Indochina and Siam and to the east of Hindustan and Bengal.