JJF at novo.dk wrote:
>> how long a resting micro-organism (also spores) can survive
> in deep surfaces layers? Is it possible to isolate "old"
> bacteria species from drilling core samples dating back
> thousands or even millions of years? And last not least
> is it possible to revive them on agar plates?
I recall an interesting poster that was presented at the 1992 APS/MSA
meetings in Portland, Oregon: from the program book " A Study of
Microbes Entrapped in Glacial Ice by C.M. Catranis and W.T. Starmer,
Mikrobios Corp and Syracuse Univ." As I recall it they had
successfully revived about a dozen species of fungi recovered from ice
cores drilled from the Greenland ice cap at depths exceeding a mile. I
don't recall how old that was supposed to make them, but it's got to be
10 or 20,000 years, doesn't it? Perhaps in the past 4 years they have
published their results somewhere, but I have not checked. I would be
interested in learning more about this if anyone checks into the
details. Tom McCLoud SAIC/Frederick Cancer Research
