A team of Russian scientists have reportedly resurrected the plant Silene stenophylla, the first such experiment to successfully recreate a plant locked in ice for 30,000 years.
Using seeds from the plant buried by squirrels thousands of years ago, the team of scientists managed to resurrect an entire plant in a pioneering experiment that paves the way for the revival of other species.
The Silene stenophylla is the oldest plant ever to be regenerated, according to researchers. The team also noted that it is fertile, producing white flowers, and viable seeds. Prior this experiment, the record lay with date palm seeds stored for 2,000 years at Masada in Israel.
“We consider it essential to continue permafrost studies in search of an ancient genetic pool, that of pre-existing life, which hypothetically has long since vanished from the earth’s surface,” the scientists write.
The sediments were firmly cemented together and often totally filled with ice, making any water infiltration impossible – creating a natural freezing chamber fully isolated from the surface. The burrows were located 125 feet below the present surface in layers containing bones of large mammals, such as mammoth, wooly rhinoceros, bison, horse and deer.
According to the Russian team, the regenerated plant looks very similar to a modern version of the plant which still grows in the same area of North-Eastern Siberia.
The issue has led to speculation that scientists may be able to use seeds from plants living thousands of years ago to cross-pollinate with current plant. Scientists have also speculated that a similar process of cloning could reproduce animals living during the Ice Age.
