Balzaquiano

...mas não me sinto mais tão velho assim - acharam organismos ainda vivos com mais de meio milhão de anos de idade.

Por outro lado, aposto que elas estão bem mais conservadas.



A research team has for the first time ever discovered DNA from living bacteria that are more than half a million years old. Never before has traces of still living organisms that old been found. The exceptional discovery can lead to a better understanding of the ageing of cells and might even cast light on the question of life on Mars. The discovery is being published in the current issue of PNAS (Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America). The discovery was made by Professor Eske Willerslev from the University of Copenhagen and his international rearch team.

All cells decompose with time. But some cells are better than others to postpone the decomposing and thus delay ageing and eventually death. And there are even organisms that are capable of regenerate and thereby repair damaged cells. These cells – their DNA – are very interesting to the understanding of the process of how cells break down and age.

The research team, which consists of experts in, among other things, DNA-traces in sediments and organisms, have found ancient bacteria that still contains active and living DNA. So far, it is the oldest finding of organisms containing active DNA and thus life on this earth. The discovery was made after excavations of layers of permafrost in the nort-western Canada, the north-eastern Sibiria and Antarctica.