Unfrozen
Worms from Kolyma recovered after 30,000 years of hibernation
Zoologists from Moscow, Pushchino and Princeton have discovered living nematode roundworms in permafrost deposits in the Kolyma Lowland. Their species identity was determined with high accuracy by analyzing 18S rRNA and partially by analyzing the morphology of these invertebrates. The scientific article was published in the journal Doklady Biological Sciences, and its Russian–language version - in the journal "Reports of the Academy of Sciences".
In 2002, in the specially protected natural area of Duvanny Yar (68°37'N, 159°08'E) in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River, scientists extracted more than 300 samples of permafrost from various depths. In two of them, raised from the former burrows of ground squirrels 30 meters below the current ground level, soil nematodes were found. After "defrosting" they began to show signs of life: they moved and ate. Invertebrates from permafrost samples extracted in 2015 in the vicinity of the Azalea River (69°20'N, 154°60'E) from depths of 3.5 meters also "came to life". The age of the Kolyma permafrost was estimated at 30-32 thousand years, the Azalea – at 40-42 thousand years. Both dates belong to the Pleistocene epoch. The nematodes extracted from them have the same age.
It was not possible to accurately determine the species belonging of the worms found by their morphology, since only females were found (many nematodes can reproduce by parthenogenesis, without the participation of males). But the appearance of the available individuals indicated that they belong to different families. Analysis of their 18S rRNA (this RNA has a certain length and deposition rate during centrifugation, and it is contained in ribosomes) allowed us to establish their belonging to specific genera. Some females were assigned to the genus Panagrolaimus (presumably the species Panagrolaimus detritophagus), others belong to the genus Plectus (presumably the species Plectus parvus).
The finding of Russian scientists is certainly important for understanding the survival possibilities of "frozen" roundworms. So far, Kolyma and Azalea nematodes are the oldest animals on Earth. However, they belong to very common species that are resistant to low temperatures, so the results obtained cannot be called absolutely unexpected. It is also interesting that earlier the seeds of a plant from the clove family, resin (genus Silene; the species of these seeds are disputed), found in the same gopher burrows on the Kolyma, germinated and gave rise to successfully flowering plants.
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