Re: Article: Novel Bacteria in Alaskan Ice May Be 32,000 Years Old

From: Brett Aubrey (brett.aubrey_at_shaw.ca)
Date: 03/02/05 

Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2005 01:37:04 -0500 (EST)

"Gil Lawton" <gillawton@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:d03bne$2mp4$1@darwin.ediacara.org...
> In response to article below, let me ask for confirmation or denial of
> something I have assumed for years.
>
> Is it not true that if one were to go into his back yard and dig
> up a spadefull of dirt he would find in it at least one life form
> that has not been classified nor studied yet. I have read this
> somewhere, although I cannot cite the source. If it is untrue, so be it.

I'd bet for untrue, but not overly relevant to the article in either case.

> But if it is literally correct, then how surprising is it that there
> should be one in a frozen pond in Alaska?

For me the surprise wasn't that it was new, but that it was dormant for 32K
years and what this might mean for other possible extreme venues (this was
my reading of the thrust of the article, as well). - Brett.

> (Not debating. Just asking.) g
>
> "Robert Karl Stonjek" <rstonjek@bigpond.net.au> wrote in message
> news:d02f9e$2bom$1@darwin.ediacara.org...
> > Novel Bacteria in Alaskan Ice May Be 32,000 Years Old
> > By NICHOLAS WADE
> >
> > Published: February 26, 2005
> >
> > ASA researchers say they have recovered bacteria that apparently lay
> > dormant
> > for 32,000 years in a frozen pond in central Alaska.
> >
> > If confirmed, the finding means that there may be many other pockets of
> > ancient life in permafrost and seafloor sediments. The hardiness of the
> > bacteria also suggests that life could survive even on Mars, in places
> > like the frozen sea reported by other researchers this week.
> >
> > But the NASA claim was greeted with some reserve by other scientists
> > because previous claims of resuscitating ancient bacteria have not been
borne out.
> >
> > The bacterium, a novel species, was recovered from a frozen pond exposed
> > in the side of the Fox tunnel, a hole dug through Pleistocene-era ice by
the
> > Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory at the Army. Dr.
Richard
> > B. Hoover, a biologist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, said that
> > while visiting the refrigerated tunnel he noticed a discolored patch in
a layer
> > that froze 32,000 years ago, according to radiocarbon data. Taking
samples
> > back to his laboratory, Dr. Hoover and his colleague Dr. Elena V. Pikuta
> > noticed bacteria that started moving as soon as the ice thawed.
> >
> > The bacteria resembled a group of microbes called carnobacteria that can
> > tolerate cold and are often isolated from refrigerated food. The NASA
> > researchers established that the microbes belonged to a new species,
which
> > they have named Carnobacterium pleistocenium in honor of its age. The
> > bacterium is not poisonous, Dr. Hoover said, although some of its close
> > relatives cause disease in fish. The researchers are reporting their
> > finding in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary
Microbiology.
> >
> > Full Text at The New York Times
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/26/science/26germ.html
> >
> > Posted by
> > Robert Karl Stonjek
> >
>

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