logo

English
                 

Science Revival of 30,000-year-old plant

2012.05.13 15:06

Rover Views:3877

Ice Age Flower, Silene Stenophylla,

Becomes Oldest Plant To Be Revived

Flower

MOSCOW -- It was an Ice Age squirrel's treasure chamber, a burrow containing fruit and seeds that had been stuck in the Siberian permafrost for over 30,000 years. From the fruit tissues, a team of Russian scientists managed to resurrect an entire plant in a pioneering experiment that paves the way for the revival of other species.

The Silene stenophylla is the oldest plant ever to be regenerated, the researchers said, and it is fertile, producing white flowers and viable seeds.

The experiment proves that permafrost serves as a natural depository for ancient life forms, said the Russian researchers, who published their findings in Tuesday's issue of "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" of the United States.

"We consider it essential to continue permafrost studies in search of an ancient genetic pool, that of pre-existing life, which hypothetically has long since vanished from the earth's surface," the scientists said in the article.

Canadian researchers had earlier regenerated some significantly younger plants from seeds found in burrows.

Svetlana Yashina of the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy Of Sciences, who led the regeneration effort, said the revived plant looked very similar to its modern version, which still grows in the same area in northeastern Siberia.

"It's a very viable plant, and it adapts really well," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the Russian town of Pushchino where her lab is located.

She voiced hope the team could continue its work and regenerate more plant species.

The Russian research team recovered the fruit after investigating dozens of fossil burrows hidden in ice deposits on the right bank of the lower Kolyma River in northeastern Siberia, the sediments dating back 30,000-32,000 years.

The sediments were firmly cemented together and often totally filled with ice, making any water infiltration impossible – creating a natural freezing chamber fully isolated from the surface.

"The squirrels dug the frozen ground to build their burrows, which are about the size of a soccer ball, putting in hay first and then animal fur for a perfect storage chamber," said Stanislav Gubin, one of the authors of the study, who spent years rummaging through the area for squirrel burrows. "It's a natural cryobank."

The burrows were located 125 feet (38 meters) below the present surface in layers containing bones of large mammals, such as mammoth, wooly rhinoceros, bison, horse and deer.

Gubin said the study has demonstrated that tissue can survive ice conservation for tens of thousands of years, opening the way to the possible resurrection of Ice Age mammals.

"If we are lucky, we can find some frozen squirrel tissue," Gubin told the AP. "And this path could lead us all the way to mammoth."

Japanese scientists are already searching in the same area for mammoth remains, but Gubin voiced hope that the Russians will be the first to find some frozen animal tissue that could be used for regeneration.

"It's our land, we will try to get them first," he said.
No. Subject Date Author Last Update Views
Notice How to write your comments onto a webpage [2] 2016.07.06 운영자 2016.11.20 18193
Notice How to Upload Pictures in webpages 2016.07.06 운영자 2018.10.19 32348
Notice How to use Rich Text Editor [3] 2016.06.28 운영자 2018.10.19 5924
Notice How to Write a Webpage 2016.06.28 운영자 2020.12.23 43840
2343 이태리 여행 3 (친퀘테레, 피사 ) [2] 2012.05.13 계기식*72 2012.05.13 6720
2342 이태리 여행 2 (베네치아) [3] 2012.05.13 계기식*72 2012.05.13 5962
2341 이태리 여행 1 (출국, 밀라노, 베르나) [11] 2012.05.13 계기식*72 2012.05.13 6028
» Revival of 30,000-year-old plant [1] 2012.05.13 Rover 2012.05.13 3877
2339 Kevin Na leads PGA with his slow play [5] 2012.05.13 운영자 2012.05.13 2773
2338 Happy Mother's Day to all my friends [5] 2012.05.12 Chomee#65 2012.05.12 6268
2337 5 Myths about Canadian Healthcare System [4] 2012.05.11 운영자 2012.05.11 2143
2336 Marilyn Monroe Sculpture [3] 2012.05.09 노영일*68 2012.05.09 5802
2335 Annular Solar Eclipse !! May 20, 2012 [1] 2012.05.09 운영자 2012.05.09 4854
2334 미국의 제비꽃 (wild violet) [6] 2012.05.08 Chomee#65 2012.05.08 5056
2333 제비꽃을 아시나요? [5] 2012.05.08 신성려#65 2012.05.08 4640
2332 제비꽃 - 조동진/장필순 [6] 2012.05.08 운영자 2012.05.08 5118
2331 The Best Care Possible / Ira Byock, MD [5] 2012.05.07 이한중*65 2012.05.07 5005
2330 신안 앞바다서 발굴한 , 650년 전 보물들 [3] 2012.05.06 운영자 2012.05.06 4412
2329 [re] 신안 앞바다 유물 - 신안선[新安船] [2] 2012.05.06 운영자 2012.05.06 4453
2328 默默히 / 이한중 [4] 2012.05.06 이한중*65 2012.05.06 4733
2327 Methane Hydrates, A New Energy Source [2] 2012.05.06 Rover 2012.05.06 4780
2326 Super Moon tonight !! [4] 2012.05.05 운영자 2012.05.05 3092
2325 Tipping Do's and Don'ts [2] 2012.05.04 이한중*65 2012.05.04 3268
2324 지리산 다녀와서 [5] 2012.05.04 김창현#70 2012.05.04 5814