Russian scientists say they’verevived a plantthat had been insert out by an arctic background squirrel 32,000 old age ago on the tundra of northeastern Siberia .
A few years ago , the scientists find the burrow hoard and assay to germinate the long - frozen works . That did n’t work . So they took cells from the plant ’s placenta , the organ that produce come . After thawing out the cells , the scientists grew them into 36 “ narrow - leaf campion ” plants ( similar to the one above ) . If the age for the plants ’ deoxyribonucleic acid stands up to further examination , they will be the oldest plants ever regrown from ancient tissue paper .
agree toThe New York Times , squirrels dug the burrows on the banking concern of the lower Kolyma River , where mammoth and wooly-haired rhinoceroses ramble during the last ice eld . The burrows were soon buried under 125 infantry of sediment and frozen at minus 7 degree Celsius . Upon excavation , scientist retrieve more than 600,000 seeds and fruits in the ancient storage compartments .
Other , similar claims have been made before , so the scientific community will be skeptical and want more validation that the plant really come from ancient DNA , and not from a more modern translation of the plant . But the researchers who execute the work , Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky of the Russian Academy of Sciences research nerve center , said they have solid radiocarbon evidence that the seeds are 31,800 years old . They said particular conditions may have helped preserve the plant : The placenta contains eminent point of saccharose and oxybenzene , which play like antifreeze . Also , over the years the plant ’s fruit accumulated very niggling Vasco da Gamma radiotherapy , which can damage desoxyribonucleic acid .
Tragically , Dr. Gilichinsky , the leader of the research team , suffered a fatal core attack on Saturday . So Dr. Yashina and her colleagues are left to hold their work on their own . The work will be put out on Tuesday in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . [ The New York Times ]
Image : Shutterstock / Le Do
BiologySciencesiberia
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