A 46,000-year-old worm was found frozen 40 meters below the surface in the Siberian permafrost. This worm was in a dormant state known as cryptobiosis, according to Teymuras Kurchalia.
He is an emeritus professor at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden and one among the scientists who were involved in the research. Anastasia Shatilovich, one of the researchers, revived two of the worms at the institute by rehydrating them with water.
The organisms in a cryptobiotic state can endure the complete absence of water or oxygen and will be able to withstand high temperatures as well as freezing or extremely salty conditions. They will remain in a life-or-death situation in which the metabolic rates decrease to an undetectable level, he added.
Later, she transported around 100 worms to labs in Germany for further analysis. After hydrating the worms, the scientists conducted radiocarbon analysis of the plant material in the sample. This was to establish that the deposits had not been hydrated since between 45,839 and 47,769 years ago.
The researchers named the species of these worms that belong to Panagrolaimus kolymaenis. This is a newly found name because the researchers didn’t know whether the worm was a known species. This research was published on July 27 in the journal PLOS Genetics.
In addition to the radiocarbon dating, the researchers confirmed that they could successfully induce the worms to enter and exit the dormancy-like state of cryptobiosis using special preparatory cues.
Some scientists are skeptical of the findings of this research. This was also the case when the specimens were first reported in 2018. At that time, outside researchers expressed concerns that the analyzed worms might be modern contamination.
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