Tiny Worm Comes Back To Life After 24,000 Years In Siberian Deep Freeze

It became active once the researchers warmed it up and fed it. It is also reproduced because it is a bdelloid rotifer, which can clone itself without a sexual partner.

“We’re pretty sure this is a new species for science,” Malvin adds. He and his colleagues analyzed the rotifer’s genome. They discovered that it was most similar to Adineta vaga, a genus that includes numerous subspecies that haven’t been adequately characterized.
To date, the researchers employed accelerator mass spectrometry organic residues discovered with the rotifer. They were 23,960 to 24,485 years old, implying that the rotifer was frozen into the permafrost at the same period.

Modern rotifers appear to have a similar ability to withstand freezing temperatures. Malvin’s team froze individuals from various present species and descendants of the ancient rotifer for a week at -15°C.
Both groups were equally tolerant of freezing temperatures and had identical survival rates.

As per Malvin, it’s unclear what they’re doing. It’s become evident in recent years that cryo species have a variety of survival strategies, not just one, and that they don’t all employ the same ones.
“I would argue the mechanics are rather a little known,” Malvin adds.
Furthermore, how long rotifers or other freeze-tolerant species may survive in permafrost.

According to Malvin, it will depend on whether their metabolism entirely stops or merely slows down.

If it stops, they may conceivably live for far longer than 24,000 years – the limit being set most likely by background radiation that gradually degraded their DNA.

However, if their metabolism continues to decrease, they will ultimately require a source of energy – food – to stay functioning.