Scientists resurrect 100-million-year-old underwater life forms

Scientists have revived the microbes found in sediments 100 million years ago, giving us another insight into what life was like in the past. As reported by Gizmodo, an international team of scientists led by geomicrobologist Yuki Morono of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology revived these microbes that are actually 101.5 million years old.

Once the microbes, which are a type of bacteria, were put into laboratory conditions, they came back to life and began to eat and multiply, as living things usually do.

Although these microbes are over 100 million years old, they lived in low-energy conditions that allowed them to “retain their metabolic potential,” according to a new research study published by Nature Communications.

“Once again, this new study expands our view of Earth’s habitable biosphere and the ability of microbes to survive in suboptimal conditions,” said Virginia Edgcomb, a geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who was not involved in the new study. in an email “It also expands our vision of where viable microbial life contributes to the turnover of carbon and other nutrients in the deep biosphere.”

There was a previous study of bacterial spores purported to come from 250-million-year-old salt crystals in the Permian Salty Formation in New Mexico, but not all experts agreed that they were actually from back then. One of the issues raised was that the samples were contaminated.

Using DNA and RNA gene profiles, these 101.5 million-year-old microbes were identified as aeorbic or oxygen-loving bacteria, and the “lack of permeability between the thick layers of the seafloor” ruled out the contamination.

Jennifer Biddle, associate professor at the University of Delaware School of Marine Science and Policy, agreed with these findings and praised Morono.

“In fact, if I were given a precious sample of Martian material with which I could conclusively prove evidence of life on another planet, I would give it to Yuki Morono,” said Biddle, who was not involved in the new research.

Fortunately, Morono says that the health risk of reviving ancient bacteria is very low since “the subsoil sediment is considered a low health risk, since there is no infecting host, such as a human being, in this environment” . Phew.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.