Uh-oh. Microbial Life Resurrected From Glaciers
Germs long frozen in glaciers may resurrect as
Earth's warming climate melts ice.
The oldest known ice on Earth lies frozen in Antarctica, in the Dry Valleys of the Transantarctic Mountains. Researchers melted five blocks of ice cut from rock-strewn glaciers there to discover entombed microbes 100,000 to 8 million years old. To avoid contamination of the ice with modern germs that would confuse results, the scientists took elaborate precautions, soaking the blocks in ethanol as an antiseptic and melting away the outer inches of ice using sterile water to decontaminate them.
The researchers found microbes in all the ice, more in the young than in the old. They also grew them out in the lab.
“The young stuff grew really fast,” said Rutgers University marine microbiologist Kay Bidle, doubling in number “every couple of days.” Until now, scientists didn’t know whether such ancient, frozen life could be revived, he added.
While such ancient organisms might not survive such a long deep-freeze, pieces of their DNA could. This suggests that as global warming melts the ice, these ancient genes could flow into the seas, which living microbes could suck up and use “to improve themselves, potentially altering their communities significantly,” Bidle said. Although it is unlikely ancient microbes or DNA would be harmful to humans, “it is something some researchers have highlighted the possibility of”.
But, we needn’t worry about anything serious resulting. Right?
Posted: Tue - August 7, 2007 at 06:25 AM