A team of Russian scientists discovered that a microscopic animal came back to life after spending 24,000 years under the Siberian permafrost ice. His name is bdeloid rotiferwhich managed to clone itself.
Stas Malavin, co-author of an article in the magazine Current Biology said there are intriguing questions about the fact. For example; What mechanism did the creature use to support its long rest?
In this regard, Malavin, from the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Sciences, located in Pushchino, Russia, said:
“Our report is the strongest evidence to date that multicellular animals could withstand tens of thousands of years in cryptobiosis. It is the state of almost completely arrested metabolism.”
Thanks to previous tests, it was known that rotifers could survive up to ten years after freezing.
To collect core samples from the Alazeya River in the Russian Arctic, the research team used a drilling rig. And then he used radiocarbon dating to determine that the age of the specimen was between 23,960 and 24,485 years.
They had previously previously identified single-celled microbes capable of performing similar feats.
A worm returned to life after 30,000 years
In terms of multicellular organisms, there are precedents such as the report of a 30,000 year old nematode worm who came back to life Thighs and soles have also regenerated after many thousands of years trapped frozen.
Malavin said that rotifers can now be added to the list of organisms that can apparently survive indefinitely. Since once the specimen was thawed it was able to reproduce asexually through a process called parthenogenesis.
At the moment it is not known what is necessary for them to survive in the ice and if there is a big difference between doing it for a few years or thousands. Resolving these unknowns requires more research, which will also be done with samples from the Arctic. The objective of this group of scientists is to find out more about the biological mechanisms that have allowed it, with the hope that this knowledge will provide data on the cryopreservation of cells, tissues and organs from other animals, including humans.
About rotifers
Rotifers are around half a millimeter long and generally live in freshwater environments. The name of these animals derives from the Latin for “wheel carrier”, which hints at the crown around her mouth, which looks like a spinning wheel. They use it to move and feed.
“We can use this organism as a model to study freeze survival and dry survival in this group, and compare this group to other hardy animals like tardigrades, nematodes, etc,” added Malavin.