Has the identity of the bacterium recently isolated from amber (about
30 million years old!!) been determined yet? Someone mentioned to me it
was an actinomycete of some sought.
Seems pretty amazing. Viable bacteria have been isolated from Antarctic
ice core samples which were dated to the late Pleistocene (10-15
million years) but external contamination could not be ruled out in
that case. It would appear to be something that would difficult to
prove unless the bacterium was unique in some manner i.e. genetically.
Cheers
John Bowman
Antarctic CRC
University of Tasmania
