Nematode resurrected from Siberian permafrost laid dormant for 46,000 years::A soil nematode reanimated from Siberian permafrost had laid dormant for approximately 46,000 years, according to a study publishing July 27, 2023 in the open access journal PLOS Genetics by Anastasia Shatilovich at the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science RAS in Russia, Vamshidhar Gade at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Germany, and colleagues.
Would this make it the oldest living animal on earth then? Fascinating.
sj_zero 1 year ago
I wonder what would have occurred afterwards, since DNA degrades pretty much completely in a couple thousand years. Did the cold weather Protect the genetic code, or do these creatures have something to protect their genetic code?
Also makes me think of the oxygen catastrophe and the ice age that followed. Overwhelming majorities of all life died out, but I assume some of what survived has traits like this?