London, Jun 15 : Scientists have claimed that a ultrasmall bacterium which has been brought back to life after being recovered from the Greenland ice sheet, could resemble extraterrestrial life.
An international team coaxed the Herminiimonas glaciei bug back to life after it spent 120,000 years buried three kms deep in the Greenland ice sheet, a major finding it claims can resemble microbes that have evolved in ice on other planets.
The bug consists of rods just 0.9 micrometres long and 0.4 micrometres in diameter, about 10 to 50 times smaller than the wellknown bacterium, Escherichia coli.
"What's unique is that it's so small, and seems to survive on so few nutrients," the 'New Scientist' quoted Jennifer Loveland-Curtze of Pennsylvania State University, who led the team, as saying.
According to the scientists, because of its tiny dimensions, the bug can survive in minute veins in the ice, scavenging sparse nutrients that were buried along with the ice. It also has extensive tail-like flagella to help it manoeuvre through the veins to find food.
"Along with the snow, you get dust, bacterial cells, fungal spores, plant spores, minerals and other organic debris. So we postulate that it lives in these microniches in the ice," Loveland-Curtze said.
12:15 AM
0 Responses to " Bug revived after 120,000 yrs 'resemble extraterrestrial life' "
Post a Comment