bacterium found on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean might have the longest sprightliness - cycle on Earth , surviving for as much as 100 million years in hibernation while waitress for the ice rink to thawing enough for them to be viable again .
These remarkable creatures were discovered when researchers at the UK ’s Newcastle University were testing deposit samples taken from the sea floor near the Arctic island Svalbard . establish on previous experiments , they gestate gradual warming of the sediment to reveal a capitulum of microbe activity at the colder temperature , but none at anything much hot than 70 degrees Fahrenheit .
As expected , there was a spike heel of microbial activity at around that temperature , then a drop - off as the temperature increase . But then something scandalous happened : microbe activity pick up again as the sediment arrive at 100 level , reaching a highpoint of activity at 125 degrees . What were these bacterium that flourish at such scorching temperature – known as thermophiles – doing on the Arctic sea floor ?
analytic thinking of the microbes ’ DNA revealed they were closely touch to bacteria find in the hot , almost oxygen - destitute regions of the ocean ’s crust . Casey Hubert , one of the leader of the research team , hypothesizes that changing sea currents might have carried them aside from their tiny niches and into the wider Arctic Ocean , where they were forced to recruit a period of dormancy so as to make it . At that point in time , the microbes had to just wait for temperatures to increase enough for them to ignite up .
Here ’s the really crazy part – it might have taken 100 million years for that to pass off . The bug that became active when the researchers warm up the sediment sample were the precise same microbe that went into hibernation all those trillion of year ago .
It ’s difficult to know just how long those microbes were frozen in the Arctic deposit , but if they were even in the park of 100 million years , then they might be the longest - live fauna on Earth . ( Although it ’s worth mentioning thecredible but disputed claimthat 250 million year old bacterium were revive from New Mexico Strategic Arms Limitation Talks deposits . )
And it ’s worth remembering that the only reason the microbes were revived at all is man happened to toil them up – who knows how long it will take their fellow bacterium still buried in the sediment to find the right conditions to wake up . If they ’re going to require the bottom of the Arctic Ocean to pass on temperatures near 125 degree , then they could be in for a wait that makes 100 million years take care like a catnap .
[ Environmental MicrobiologyviaNew Scientist ]
BacteriaBiologymicrobesScience
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