46,000-year-old frozen worm brought back to life and begins to pupate

Scientists have discovered a female roundworm trapped deep in the Siberian permafrost for 46,000 years. As a result of the studies, scientists who revived the worm observed that the worm began to procreate through a process called parthenogenesis, which does not need a mate.

Worm that has been sleeping for 46,000 years is awakened

According to the statement, the worm was in a kind of dormant state called cryptobiosis for thousands of years. In this nearly indefinite state, all metabolic processes, including “reproduction, development, and repair,” pause, the University of Hawaiʻi reports. In the study, published in the journal PLOS Genetics, the scientists reported that the worm belonged to an “unidentified species” after sequencing its genome. This new species, which they named Panagrolaimus kolymaensis, has the longest known ability to stay dormant.

Scientists say this worm may belong to a species thought to have gone extinct in the last 50,000 years. On the other hand, this worm may be a common nematode that no one has yet identified. According to the press release, the fact that the worm has survived all these years is not a shock to scientists; because they have known for years that the microscopic organisms such as the worm studied here can shut down their biological functions in order to survive even in the harshest conditions.

“Our findings suggest that nematodes have evolved mechanisms that potentially allow them to suspend life on geological time scales,” the PLOS Genetics article states. This study extends the longest reported period of cryptobiosis in nematodes by tens of thousands of years. This study also points out that fluctuations in the environment determine the length of time an organism can remain in a cryptobiotic state.