Back 24,000 years, a resurgent microorganism(From resurrection to reproduction)

What if a life that has been frozen for tens of thousands of years comes back to life?

 

The picture below shows the Bdelloid rotifer,

which had been frozen for 24,000 years, thawed and re-engaged (Fig. 1).

 

Fig. 1. Refer: Shmakova eta l., Current Biology (2021)

 

Many people are wondering and challenging

whether it is possible to freeze humans(Fig. 2) like Dooly, a baby dinosaur that came down the glacier(Fig. 3).

 

Fig. 3. Refer: Netflix

 

Fig. 2. Refer: https://m.cafe.daum.net/cbnugeo/JtZB/2?q=D_aSce_-d5P550&

 

Russian researchers have recently confirmed 

survival by thawing a multicellular creature called the "Bdelloid rotifer," 

which has been frozen in the Arctic permafrost for 24,000 years.

 

The findings were recently published in Current biology (Fig. 4).

 

Fig. 4. Refer: Shmakova et al., Current Biology (2021).

 

The Bdelloid rotifer, who survived 24,000 years, was able to reproduce normally.

 

It has been confirmed to be possible in multicellular organisms with brains, organs, muscles, and reproductive organs (Fig. 5).

 

Fig. 5. Refer: Shmakova et al., Current Biology (2021).

Russian scientists have discovered this Bdelloid rotifer

frozen in a specimen dug a hole 3.5 meters deep

in the permafrost of northeastern Siberia (Fig. 6-7).

 

Fig. 6. Refer: Shmakova et al., Current Biology (2021).

Fig. 7. Refer: Shmakova et al., Current Biology (2021).

 

The researchers used radiocarbon dating in the area

where Bdelloid rotifer was discovered to estimate the time

it lived about 24,000 years ago.

 

In response, Dr. Stas Malavin told The New York Times,

"We resuscitated an animal that witnessed a living furry mammoth." (Fig. 8)

 

Fig. 8. Refer: NYtimes

Bdelloid rotifer is a representative extreme environmental resistance creature

along with water bears (Fig. 9) and Sleeping Chironomid (Fig. 10).

 

Fig. 9. Refer: wikipedia

Fig. 10. Refer: About sleeping chironomid: https://www.naro.affrc.go.jp/archive/nias/anhydrobiosis/Sleeping%20Chironimid/e-about-yusurika.html

 

 

The study of living things that survive in these extreme conditions is meaningful in two contexts.

 

The first is the freezing preservation of life.

Researchers expect that these examples,

which are conserved in extreme environments for tens of thousands of years,

will enable them to be conserved at the cellular level to the multicellular population level.

 

The second is space exploration.

The environment that mankind must face in space exploration is extreme.

The study of defensible life forms against this extreme environment

will contribute to the exploration and protection of the human universe.

 

However, researchers have not been able to explain

the mechanisms by which such creatures can resist extreme conditions.

 

We're looking forward to further researches.