Revive the frozen tree 30,000 years

Russian scientists have discovered a 30,000-year-old fruit that is naturally preserved in squirrel caves in Siberia's permafrost. They conducted experiments to revive this flowering plant.

'The seeds of the herb Silene stenophylla are very far from the oldest plant tissue regenerated before , ' said Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky - two researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Scientists believe the new discovery could be a major turning point in the study of ancient biological materials and pave the way for ways to regenerate other species, including some extinct species. They also emphasized the importance of permafrost, where they could search for the ancient "gene pool" , which, in theory, has long since vanished from the earth.

Previously, the record of ancient regenerating flora belonged to a 2,000-year-old palm seed at Masada fort near the Dead Sea in Israel.

Herb plants Silene stenophylla

Latest success is of great importance in terms of time. Scientists say carbon isotope dating methods have identified seeds that are 31,800 years old with an error of 300 years.

Studies from the Russian National Academy of Sciences said: "They found 70 frozen ice caves along the Kolyma river in northeastern Siberia, Russia. At the same time, they found hundreds of thousands of samples of plant seeds. different".

In addition, the cave was found at a depth of 20-40m above the surface containing the bones of large mammals such as mammoths, rhinos, bison, horses, deer, and many animals. another from the late Pleitoxen period. The permafrost has the function of a giant natural refrigerator, completely isolated from the surface layer. Its average temperature is -7 degrees Celsius for tens of thousands of years. Therefore, this is a great storage place for plant seeds.

In the laboratory in Moscow, scientists have found ways to grow plants from Silene stenophylla seeds but failed. Later, they switched to using nut-shaped pods and successfully planted plants in pots under controlled light and temperature.

"For years, scientists have known that plant cells can survive for millennia under ideal conditions. And new research is a great breakthrough," Grant Zazula at White Yokon Territory. , Canada told the New York Times.

Before some information about the level of impact of regenerated plants has not been monitored by science, Yashina and Gilichinsky have used radioactive carbon to prove that the fruit seeds found in the permafrost do not cause Harmful to the environment. Typical examples are S.Stenophylla herb - it is very similar to the plants that are still grown in Siberia.