Scientists managed to awaken microbes 101 million years old that they were under the ocean, in a place little conducive to life, according to a study.
These results, published in the journal Nature Communications, reveal the amazing capabilities of one of the most primitive life forms on Earth.
That because microbes can survive for tens of millions of years with almost no oxygen or nutrients, and be reborn anyway in a laboratory.
Ten years ago, a scientific expedition set out to excavate the depths of the Pacific Ocean and took samples of ancient buried sediments. 100 meters below the ocean floor (about 6,000 meters below the surface of the water), some of them for more than 100 million years.
The research team, led by the Japanese Agency for Underwater Sciences and Technologies, chose the subtropical turn of the South Pacific, the least active area in the entire ocean, since it lacks nutrients and is therefore very unfavorable to life.
The researchers they put the samples in incubation to help microbes “get out” of their lethargy.
To their surprise they discovered that, far from being fossilized in the sediments, the microbes had survived there and were even able to grow and multiply.
“At first I was skeptical, but it turned out that a 99.1% of microbes in sediments from 101.5 million years old were still alive and ready to eat! ”said Yuki Morono, the lead author of the research.
“We now know that there is no age limit for organisms in the underwater biosphere,” he told AFP. “Is a excellent place to explore the limits of life on Earth ”he added in a statement.
The oxygen debris in the sediments they would have allowed these microbes to stay alive for thousands of years with almost no energy expended.
For their part, “surface” microbes could not survive under such conditions.
Previous studies have shown how bacteria can live in the most inhospitable places on the planet, even without oxygen.
–
