Microscopic organism “resuscitated” after spending 24,000 years frozen

A team of scientists Russians discovered that a animal microscopic, called bdelloïde rotifer, He came back to life after being frozen for 24 thousand years in Siberian permafrost and subsequently clones of itself.

Co-author of an article in the magazine Current biology about the find, Stas Malavinexplained to AFP that the text raises intriguing questions about what mechanisms he used the multicellular animal to support his long rest.

“Our report is the strongest evidence to date that multicellular animals could resist tens of thousands of years in cryptobiosis, the state of metabolism almost completely stoppedSaid Malavin, of the Institute for Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Sciences, which is located at Pushchino, Russia.

Researchers used a drilling rig to collect core samples from the river Alaziya in the Russian Arctic. Next, the team used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the specimen, which ranges from 23,960 and 24,485 years.

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Experts had previously identified single-celled microbes capable of similar exploits. Regarding multicellular organisms, there has been a report of a nematode worm 30 thousand years, which came back to life, and the mosses and some plants too they regenerated after thousands of years trapped in ice.

Malvin said that is why “rotifers can now be added to the list of organisms that can apparently survive indefinitely”. Once thawed, the animal was able to reproduce asexually by a process called Partenogenesis.

Rotifers are around half a millimeter long and typically live in freshwater environments.

The name is derived from Latin for “wheel carrier”, Which refers to the crown around his mouth, similar to a spinning wheel, with which they move and feed.

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“We can use this organism as a model to study freeze-dry survival in this group, and compare this group with other tough animals such as tardigrades, nematodes, etc.,” Malavin concluded.