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PMID: 17728401
Published · ppublish
English
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Ancient bacteria show evidence of DNA repair.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
·Vol. 104
·No. 36
·2007-09-04
·Pages 14401-5
Abstract
Recent claims of cultivable ancient bacteria within sealed environments highlight our limited understanding of the mechanisms behind long-term cell survival. It remains unclear how dormancy, a favored explanation for extended cellular persistence, can cope with spontaneous genomic decay over geological timescales. There has been no direct evidence in ancient microbes for the most likely mechanism, active DNA repair, or for the metabolic activity necessary to sustain it. In this paper, we couple PCR and enzymatic treatment of DNA with direct respiration measurements to investigate long-term survival of bacteria sealed in frozen conditions for up to one million years. Our results show evidence of bacterial survival in samples up to half a million years in age, making this the oldest independently authenticated DNA to date obtained from viable cells. Additionally, we find strong evidence that this long-term survival is closely tied to cellular metabolic activity and DNA repair that over time proves to be superior to dormancy as a mechanism in sustaining bacteria viability.
MeSH Terms
Bacteria/genetics
Base Sequence
DNA Repair/genetics
DNA, Bacterial/genetics
Gene Amplification/genetics
Molecular Sequence Data
Soil Microbiology
Chemicals
DNA, Bacterial
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
Published
2007-09-04
Epub
2007-00-29
Pages
14401-5
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC1958816
Subset
IM
Grants
Wellcome Trust · United Kingdom
Databases
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