A 34,000 year old bacteria has come back from the dead and is breeding

Thirty - four millennia ago , some bacteria got trapped inside salt crystals in what is now Death Valley . These crystals were recently dug up and the bacterium freed from their hibernation … and then they started reproducing .

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks crystals can uprise improbably speedily and are known to trap whatever tiny organisms do n’t get out of the way . For most microscopic critters , entrapment would think a swift last inside the crystal . But this exceptional eccentric of bacterium handle to shut down their entire bodies and wait out their imprisonment , subsist off of little algae prison cell called Dunaliella . Researcher Brian Schubert , who made the discovery , explain what was going on inside the crystal :

“ They ’re awake , but they ’re not using any energy to swim around , they ’re not procreate . They ’re not doing anything at all except maintaining themselves . The most exciting part to me was when we were able to identify the Dunaliella cells in there , because there were hints that could be a food reference . ”

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These are n’t the oldest organism to survive in debar animation – there have even been disputed claim of come to bacterium from 250 million years ago – but these bacterium are peculiar in how rapidly they yield to their old , saltiness - free way of life . Once they were free from the crystal , the bacterium expend about two and a half month convalesce in their “ survival ” land , but they then started come back to normal .

A few of the bacteria actually managed to regurgitate . It was n’t many – only five of the 900 bacterium produced progeny – but germ like this are choosy about where they ’ll regurgitate even under normal consideration , so some of the ancient bacteria might just not have like their young surroundings . After 34,000 year in stasis , I suppose they ’ve remove the right to be cranky , or whatever the bacterial equivalent of this is . Either means , this Modern generation of bacterium is separated from their long - bushed bacterial “ grandparent ” by thirty - four millennia . Talk about your contemporaries spread …

[ viaOurAmazingPlanet ; image of the salt crystals by Brian Schubert – the ancient bacteria are the tiny sullen point in the finish ]

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