Scientists were able to reanimate a nematode that had laid dormant in Siberian permafrost for approximately 46,000 years, according to—adding to fears that more dangerous organisms, such as disease-inducing pathogens, could emerge from melting ice as climate change warms the Earth’s permafrost.... [+]The nematode was able to survive harsh conditions while frozen by entering a dormant state known as “cryptobiosis,” the study explained.
The scientists said they were able to use radiocarbon analysis of plant material from the burrow to discover the ice in which this nematode was found, 40 meters below the ice’s surface, which had remained frozen since the late Pleistocene, a geological era between 45,839 and 47,769 years ago.The researchers identified this nematode as a previously undescribed species called Panagrolaimus kolymaensis.
While this is the longest time scientists have discovered a nematode surviving in cryptobiosis, other organisms, such as disease-causing Bacillus bacteria spores, have been found surviving tens of millions of years in such a state.45,800. That’s how much, at least, this nematode breaks the previous record for longest cryptobiosis in a nematode, according to the study.