Ancient Seafloor Microbes
By Raquel Morgens
(picture of organisms under microscope- colored)
Source; https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-seafloor-microbes-woke-up-after-over-100-million-years
July 28th in Natures Communication, researchers reported that after analyzing seafloor sediments from 13 to 103 million years ago they discovered that almost all the microbes contained in the sediment were not dead at all, but dormant. Not only were they only dormant, but as they gave the microbes food they found that the microbes revived themselves and even multiplied. This left scientist Yuki Morono of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology in Kochi wondering how starved microbes could survive so long in the seafloor. The microbes patch that was found is under a desert-like area of the ocean, which is part of an abyssal plain about 3,700 to 5,700 meters down. In that area the microbes found in the Pacific ocean contain little nutrients that would allow ocean life, though as a result little organic matter would go through and settle on the seafloor. Due to the lack of organic material in the area oxygen can seep deep into the sediments, Morono and her colleagues then decided to see what would happen if they fed the microbes. They ¨fed¨ the microbes with nutrients including carbon and nitrogen and then continued to track the activity of the organisms. The microbes ended up being a group of many different bacterias belonging to groups of Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria. Most of the microbes responded to the food and multiplied by a magnitude of 4 so about 100 cells per cubic centimeter to 1 million cells per cubic centimeter. This included both the oldest and youngest microbes, in the end about 99.1% of the microbes were revived.
I think this is really interesting! With this found it could open many gateways for science to find new and intriguing life. Maybe in the very future we could use or harvest there behavior for medicine or to repair damaged bodily functions. Thanks for presenting on this - Tyler A.
ReplyDeleteThats a really interesting idea concerning the use of this find to then incorporate it into medicine, I hadn't thought of that! As you said I believe that this is a major step that can lead to many different pathways for science and medicine!
Delete-Raquel Morgens
That is very interesting! It makes me wonder what conditions allowed the microbes to live dormant, and if these could be simulated for similar organisms. Another follow-up question that I have is if the microbes can re-enter the dormant state after being fed the nutrients.
ReplyDeleteCarissa Bersche
This is pretty cool, what is most interesting to me is that once the microbes were revived they began to multiple. I wonder what, if any, effect it had on the rate of them multiplying compared to the rate from millions of years ago. I also wonder if there are other groups of bacteria that have microbes that have this ability. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteTrinity Mathis
We need to do more research of the ocean. We have only discovered 5% of the ocean, that's probably why these microbes were undiscovered for so long. It's crazy how they almost all of them were able to be revived. It makes me wonder what else we can do with these microbes, could we use them to help with food intolerance, or maybe to boost our immune system?
ReplyDelete-Ilori Tankpinou
I definitely think this could lead to more discoveries of dormant organisms in the ocean, their is so much of the ocean we have not discovered yet and the more we explore the ocean the more we will be able to find organisms that could have some advantages.
ReplyDeletei find this to be extremely interesting! i wonder what the evolutionary advantages to these organisms are and can they be applied elsewhere? is it a product of convergent evolution or ancestral evolution? how many other organisms can use this ability? the questions are endless. - Nathan Clark
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool how these organisms have insanely long lifespans and can survive in conditions that most other organisms can't survive in. I think this can lead to further discoveries about the larger organisms in the unexplored parts of the ocean. It might even help us discover the composition of extraterrestrial organisms.
ReplyDelete-Shirin Saha
I really enjoyed listening to your presentation. I love learning about new things. It's werid knowing that mircorbes can live for so long. I think this can lead to us finding different organisms and finding out new things.
ReplyDelete