Nematode resurrected from Siberian permafrost lay dormant for 46,000 years

by


Researchers remoted the newly described nematode (Panagrolaimus kolymaensis) from permafrost in 2018, however its age and species remained unclear. (Picture credit score: Shatilovich et al, 2023, PLOS Genetics; (CC-BY 4.0))

A microscopic worm survived within the Siberian permafrost for a record-breaking 46,000 years, scientists have found — tens of hundreds of years longer than beforehand resurrected worms.

The traditional roundworm, or nematode, belongs to the newly described species Panagrolaimus kolymaensis. Researchers found it nestled inside a fossilized squirrel burrow that was extracted from permafrost close to the Kolyma River, within the northeastern Arctic, in 2002. Scientists resuscitated the frozen nematode in 2018, however its age and species remained unclear.