Scientists in Germany have accomplished a remarkable feat in bringing to life 46,000 year old worms after a thawing process. These nematodes were discovered in Siberian permafrost and belong to a new species called Panagrolaimus kolymaensis.
This finding brought a unique opportunity to study living beings that have been in a state of cryptobiosis for almost half a millennium, allowing a deeper understanding of how life can survive in extreme conditions and providing valuable information for you researchers.
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(Image: Publicity – Laura Villegas/University of Cologne)
Cryptobiosis is a state of latency in which the metabolic activity of living beings stops due to adverse environmental conditions. In the case of these ancient worms, they were in cryptobiosis since the end of the Pleistocene geological period, which means that their metabolic activities stopped around 46,000 years ago.
The thawing process allowed these beings to crawl back to life, revealing surprising information about their survival in the ice. In this sense, the study of these frozen nematodes has important implications for science and conservation.
The researchers found that mild dehydration before freezing improved the worms' readiness for cryptobiosis, ensuring their survival in extremely low temperatures. In addition, they looked at the worms' production of the sugar trehalose, which helped protect their DNA and proteins during the resting period.
These molecular adaptations are crucial for survival in hostile environments and can be used as inspiration for the protection of endangered species or for the development of technologies for conservation.
Studying these ancient creatures also provides valuable insights into how life can persist in extreme scenarios, which may be relevant as the Earth's climate changes. Earthcontinues to change.
To the climate changes are directly affecting ecosystems around the world, threatening the survival of many species. Understanding how these ancient worms managed to survive for millennia in the ice could provide strategies for protecting biodiversity and meeting future challenges.
In addition, research with these thawed worms may help to better understand the species evolution and adaptive responses to the environment.
The ability of these nematodes to survive in adverse conditions for a long period could have important implications for evolutionary biology and ecology.
With regard to the discovery, Philipp Schiffer, a researcher at the University of Cologne, said:
"Finally, it's super fascinating to suddenly see life, live animals crawling out of a piece of ground that's been frozen for 46,000 years."
Regarding the potential dangers that thawing these worms can pose, the researchers guarantee that there is no reason for alarm. This is a common scenario in fiction films, but it is very unlikely in a real situation like this.
While the sudden emergence of pathogens is a legitimate concern, they maintain that there is no imminent danger that these organisms could harbor. bacteria harmful to humans. Safety precautions are always taken in research involving old biological material, minimizing any potential risk.