World’s Oldest Bacteria!
In 2007, Professor Eske Willerslev and his team from the University of Copenhagen discovered living bacteria es@mated to over half a million years old in the permafrost in northern Canada (Yukon). This was the first @me that researchers had isolated DNA from ac@ve bacteria. [1] Prior to this researchers had looked at reviving bacteria that had been dormant in a dead-­‐like stasis. Dr. Russell Vreeland of West Chester University reawakened bacteria from inside salt crystals that were 250 million years old. These salt crystals were sampled from an underground nuclear waste site in New Mexico. Prior to this, the oldest revived bacteria was discovered by Dr. Raul Cano at California Polytechnic State University and was a mere 30 million years old. These findings have not been without controversy, with the Cano finding, which was revived from bacteria found in a bee carcass trapped in amber, serving as the basis of Jurassic Park. [2] And lest there be any doubt that bacteria has long ruled the earth before man, the bones of an ancient Pliocene hominin were discovered in the Sterkfontein caves in South Africa. The bones, some 2 million years old, were riddled with lesions from a bacterial infec@on, likely caused by Brucella abortus. This is the earliest known bacterial infec@on. [3] But you needn’t view the bone or beneath the soil surface to find ancient bacteria. The Taylor Glacier in Antarc@ca is the home to a community of primordial ooze – living in an isolated world of high salt and iron, free of oxygen, heat, and light. A fissure is responsible for the 5-­‐story blood-­‐
red waterfall, providing a one way passage from 2 million year old community into ours. [4] Soil Microbiology, Believe It or Not! [1] World's Oldest Bacteria Found Living in Permafrost. 2007. Science Daily. As published in the Proceedings of the NaOonal Academy of Sciences. 08.28.2007 issue. [2] Hoyle, B. Ancient Bacteria May be Oldest Life Form. 2001. American Society for Microbiology. 67[1]. [3] Earliest Known Bacterial InfecOon Found. 2009. Discovery [Channel] News. 08.22.2009 issue. [4] AntarcOcaís ìBlood Fallsî Shows How Aliens Might Live on Ice Worlds. 2009. Discover Magazine. 04.16.2009 issue.