Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
A group of researchers claims to have succeeded in reviving and cultivating microbes 100 million years old. They animate the microbes by giving carbon dan nitrogen.
To capture these microbes, the researchers drilled sediment until they reached volcanic rock waters of the Pacific Ocean. As a result, they obtained sedimentation containing 101.5 million years old microbes.
Launch WiredThe researchers used chemicals to find microbes from their hiding place amid many sediment particles. They claim to find 1,011 cells per cubic centimeter of sediment.
By using carbon and nitrogen, researchers say certain microbes increase in number four times.
“That is unbelievable. More than 99 percent of microbes can come back to life,” said Geomicrobiology of the Japanese Ocean-Earth Science and Technology Agency, Yuki Morono.
Not only reviving, Morona and his colleagues also managed to isolate some ancient cells and make them form larger communities.
In a study published in Nature, researchers analyzed each of the microbial cells with nanometer-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) that actively inserted substrates labeled with isotopes. Researchers see the microbes take carbon and nitrogen within 68 days after incubation.
Launch CBS News, researchers analyzed sediment samples found around 12,140 to 18,700 feet below sea level in the South Pacific Gyre, a rotating current system located in the Pacific Ocean.
Through further experiments, the researchers hope to determine how microbes can survive for millions of years.
“The most interesting part of this research is that it basically shows that there is no limit to living in sediments,” said oceanographer and study author from Rhode Island D’Hondt University.
“Maintaining full physiological ability for 100 million years in starvation isolation is an impressive achievement,” he said.
(jps / DAL)
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