Flowering Plant Revived After 30,000 Years in Russian Permafrost
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Regenerated Pleistocene Age plant. David Gilichinsky/Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil, Russian Academy of Sciences
The plant in this picture dates from the Pleistocene Age, 30,000 years ago, before agriculture, before writing, before the end of the last Ice Age. And while it’s not accurate to say the plant itself is that old, scientists in Russia say they regenerated it from frozen cells they found beneath 125 feet of permafrost in what is now northeastern Siberia.
It was cultivated in the lab, with help from some “clonal micropropagation,” say the scientists, from seeds and leaves probably collected by some long-ago species of squirrel. The researchers, publishing their find today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, say the squirrel’s burrow was probably frozen over quickly, and stayed that way until they discovered it.
“The squirrels dug the frozen ground to build their burrows, which are about the size of a soccer ball, putting in hay first and then animal fur for a perfect storage chamber,” said Stanislav Gubin, one of the authors of the study, who spent years rummaging through the area for squirrel burrows. “It’s a natural cryobank.”
The plant is of the species Silene stenophylla, and radiocarbon dating says it is 31,800 years old, plus or minus 300 years. The Russian scientists report they were able to grow 36 plants in the lab, and after a year of tender loving care, they say the plants blossomed, bore fruit, and dropped seeds. They lived, in other words, as if there had never been a 30,000-year interruption.
“The first generation cultivated from seeds obtained from regenerated plants progressed through all developmental stages and had the same morphological features as parent plants,” wrote Svetlana Yashina and a team at the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences. “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.”
It all may sound a bit incredible — and other scientists will be skeptical — but beyond that, why does it matter? The scientists say the world’s permafrost — about 20 percent of the planet’s surface — could be a vast time capsule, a place where ancient life is preserved, could be revived, and could speak volumes about the evolution of life on Earth.
They also point to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the northernmost reaches of Norway, an ultra-high security, ultra-low temperature bank for the seeds of every plant we eat — more than two million of them. More than 100 nations have left seeds there in a sort of frozen Noah’s Ark, so that species can be recovered in case of some sort of calamity.
When the vault was set up in 2008, there was doubt it would be useful. The Russian team now says it is “of great interest and importance,” worth keeping up.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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This is so cool! A living plant that predates the creation of the world. I must have one for my garden!
Posted by: Jenn | February 20, 2012, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
hmmmm…. im not quite sold
Posted by: tanya | February 20, 2012, 4:39 pm 4:39 pm
Excellent observation, Jenn.
In addition, “heirloom” tomato takes on a whole new meaning.
I can’t wait !
Posted by: Figson | February 20, 2012, 4:40 pm 4:40 pm
Pretty damn cool if it is for real…I’d like one too.
Posted by: Really? | February 20, 2012, 4:46 pm 4:46 pm
They should sell them to raise money for more scientific research (AFTER making sure they won’t become an invasive weed…)
Posted by: helicohunter | February 20, 2012, 5:07 pm 5:07 pm
Looks a lot like eidelweiss. A progenitor?
Posted by: hawkechik | February 20, 2012, 6:17 pm 6:17 pm
can they bring back extinct species…how about dinosaurs?
Posted by: louise | February 20, 2012, 7:12 pm 7:12 pm
I, for one, think it’s pretty amazing how it’s possible to bring to life something that has been “gone” from this planet for 30,000 +/- 300 years. I sure wish there are some people that we could do this with starting with the late and great Albert Einstein for one and Thomas Edison!
Posted by: S. Gustafski (Scotty) | February 20, 2012, 7:20 pm 7:20 pm
This is an accomplishment the Russian people are to be proud of. Truly an honorable accomplishment before the world’s eyes.
Any species able to bring another back from extinction is worthy of being brought back itself.
From Tuscaloosa Alabama in America, I congratulate you on such a fine thing born of good taste. I look forward to the recovery of other species.
cool
Posted by: gagoonies | February 20, 2012, 7:47 pm 7:47 pm
So 30,000 years ago that frozen northern climate was warm? I wonder what man made activity caused that and how those neanderthals fixed it so it would freeze? We could learn from those ancient humans who eliminated carbon or something? It almost seems like there’s some sort of periodic warm/cold cycle or something.
Posted by: Kalabi | February 20, 2012, 8:15 pm 8:15 pm
Looks like part of an arrangement I got from 1-800-Flowers.
Posted by: Tim C | February 20, 2012, 8:31 pm 8:31 pm
nitwits may unfreeze virus that will wipe us out!
Posted by: bonhead | February 20, 2012, 9:09 pm 9:09 pm
Awesome!! :-)
Posted by: Martimouse123 | February 20, 2012, 9:21 pm 9:21 pm
Anybody catch that 30,000 years ago, what is now 125 feet of permafrost was supple enough for a squirrel to bury the seed? So the Earth was significantly warmer 30,000 years ago than it is today. That really isn’t that long ago. This whole climate thing is totally cyclical.
Posted by: Kevin M. | February 20, 2012, 9:30 pm 9:30 pm
30,000 years? Its interesting that evolution assumes a high turn over rate resulting in mutations. Yet, here we have an example of something unchanged for 30,000 years. Maybe not everything is “evolving”. The ends of the petals seem different from flowers I typically see.
Posted by: Jablabla | February 20, 2012, 9:40 pm 9:40 pm
What changed the climate was a worldwide flood that disrupted the atmosphere and caused many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The climate of the earth changed after that time…..It is a beautiful flower.
Posted by: jlc | February 20, 2012, 9:59 pm 9:59 pm
I am not too surprised that they got it to germinate; it probably is old seed, but how old I’m not convinced. The minute I saw it I thought it looks exactly the American wildflower Soapwort except that has a different Latin name and tends to shades of pink. The very lightest pink can look white but the patch I found and photographed some years back was pink. It’s a charming little plant. I think you can buy seed for the American variety at Prairie Moon Seeds something in MN.
Posted by: BridgetoSomewhere | February 20, 2012, 10:45 pm 10:45 pm
well i hate to tell them, but the same plant grows in kansas around creeks and lakes…so the “seeds/bulbs” may be old that they brought back to life, but the plant is still around…it also comes in light shade of purple btw.
Posted by: Coffee C. | February 20, 2012, 10:51 pm 10:51 pm
It looks familiar for a reason. Plants from the same genus are still common garden weeds today. 30,000 years is not very long in evolutionary terms. And weedy species are so flexible that they don’t necessarily have to change much as conditions change.
And yes, people, we know that climate has changed naturally in the past. Everyone knows this. But it is not logical to claim this means that we cannot affect it ALSO.
Posted by: jock59801 | February 20, 2012, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
We call it saponaria or Bouncing Bet. Guess it came over from Europe as a garden plant and escaped to woods, roadsides and cemeteries, probably self-seeds readily and is hardy zones 3-9. Google images has several that look identical to the regenerated Russian one (except that one odd leaf jutting at an angle upward to the left looks rounded and variegated, not like the rest of the leaves. I’ll wager it never went extinct in Russia; there are tons of wildflowers there (so I’ve read). I checked Prairie Moon and they don’t have it. Others do but some look totally different so caveat emptor.
Posted by: BridgetoSomewhere | February 20, 2012, 11:06 pm 11:06 pm
Please make do not tell the GOP managers about this. They will very likely ask these scientists revive GOP so it can continue preaching Stone Age ideas and practices.
Posted by: Norman | February 20, 2012, 11:20 pm 11:20 pm
I just wanna know how big was the squirrel?
Posted by: 5thwarder | February 20, 2012, 11:28 pm 11:28 pm
So, plants can be revived after being frozen thousands of years. I wonder who will do the reviving of the seed bank in 32,008 ?
Posted by: john locke | February 20, 2012, 11:47 pm 11:47 pm
The scientist have not realized that what they awaken was no ordinary flower….BUT A FLOWER FROM HELL!!!
Posted by: John | February 20, 2012, 11:52 pm 11:52 pm
30,000 years ago. Wasn’t that before god created earth?
Posted by: Rombo | February 21, 2012, 7:51 am 7:51 am
No, Rombo, just before man created god. :-)
Posted by: Bryan | February 21, 2012, 10:03 am 10:03 am
Isn’t reviving dormant lifeforms like this just how stories like “The Thing” begin?
Posted by: MyTake | February 21, 2012, 10:14 am 10:14 am
Neat article. And I love when the young earthers come out on comment areas…I just crack up at some of the silly things these people say. What’s really funny (or sad, depending on how you want to look at it) is that they actually believe the planet, in fact the whole universe, is just 6,000 years old!
Posted by: Arf40 | February 21, 2012, 12:43 pm 12:43 pm
@Arf40 – I would say that even sadder is how much they are pandered to in politics and education. Compared to the rest of the world the US slides downhill a little more every year in math and science and yet we continue to give superstition and iron age myths equal or higher credence as empirical evidence. In many ways the US deserves to fail.
Posted by: glacia | February 21, 2012, 2:44 pm 2:44 pm
what if the plant is really a shape-shifting alien, frozen when it crash-landed 30,000 years ago? we’re all dead soon! aaarrrggghhh!
Posted by: rich | February 21, 2012, 3:39 pm 3:39 pm
Cool, that’s how plant life looked before the great flood…
Posted by: Honestopionion510 | February 21, 2012, 10:06 pm 10:06 pm
YES, you amateur commentators out there, it should look very similar to species still alive today, because that genus is still around with many species existing all over the place. They took CELLS not SEEDS and cloned them into a similar species alive today to get the end-resulting plant … The real wonder here is not the cloning – that’s very common – but that they found viable tissue to use from 30K yrs ago. Just enjoy the pictures.
Remember, they didn’t plant a 30K yr-old seed and then grew it – much more complicated.
Posted by: Brian | February 22, 2012, 10:16 am 10:16 am
No, Martimouse123, a squirrel did not dig a hole 125 feet deep through permanently soft soil . A squirrel buried the seed in a shallow hole during the summer when a foot or two of the surface thaws. Thousands of years of sedimentation buried the site after that.
Posted by: Matt Horns | February 22, 2012, 11:52 pm 11:52 pm
How amazing!!! I can barely keep a cactus alive and these guys got frozen plant cells to grow into a viable plant that can procreate. I can’t imagine all the hard work it must have taken to accomplish this feat. The implications are fantastic too.
Posted by: redgirl | February 23, 2012, 1:44 pm 1:44 pm
i can’t wait ’till they clone a Mammoth :)
that can’t be too many years away now, can it?
Posted by: Doug D | February 25, 2012, 10:18 pm 10:18 pm