Scientists Awaken "Alien" Bacteria

First they try and recreate a start on earth, then a black hole with the CERN giant particle accelerator and now scientists are re-awakening a life-form that has slept for 120,000 years under the polar ice-caps thought to
possibly be related to the indestructible super-aliens yet to be discovered on extraterrestrial ice worlds.

Scientists believe that if this life-form can survive hundreds of thousands of years frozen beneath a glacier on earth, then there is every possibility that the same or similar species could also survive on frozen on any other planets such as Mars.

"These extremely cold environments are the best analogues of possible extraterrestrial habitats" Loveland-Curtze says.
"The Exceptionally low temperatures can preserve cells and nucleic acids for even millions of years... studying these bacteria can provide insights into how cells can survive and even grow under extremely harsh conditions, such as temperatures down to -56˚C, little oxygen, low nutrients, high pressure and limited space."

Dr Jennifer Loveland-Curtze and her colleagues from the Pennsylvania State University have awakened the purple, blobby life- form which was named the Herminiimonas Glaciei in the current issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
"It was coaxed back to life with great patience" they said. They first incubated their samples at 2˚C for seven months and then at 5˚C for a further four and a half months, after which colonies of very small purple-brown bacteria were seen.

Despite some public concerns they do believe that they can study Herminiimonas Glaciei safely as it is a micro-organism rather than a larger organism. However, they admitted, this in turn does bring its own problems. It is unusually small for a bacterium up to 50 times smaller than E-Coli which means that it can very easily get to places we do not want it.

"It can pass through a 0.2 micron filter, which is the filter pore size commonly used in sterilization of fluids in laboratories and hospitals" she warns.

"If there are other ultra-small bacteria that are pathogens, then they could be present in solutions presumed to be sterile. In a clear solution very tiny cells might grow but not create the density sufficient to make the solution cloudy".

This does sound a tad worrying. We have a micro-organism that has survived thousands of years trapped under our ice to be recently awakened. It can survive in the most hostile habitat on our planet or possibly on any planet. It can avoid the toughest sterilisation procedures we have.

If anybody has seen Species or Jurassic Park they will probably be seeing quite a few similarities by now and it leaves me begging the question to scientists why? Black holes, Stars, Aliens, Dinosaurs! can we not go back to our thatched houses and leave the universe in peace.

Article: "Herminiimonas glaciei sp. nov., a novel ultramicrobacterium from 3042 m deep Greenland glacial ice", Jennifer Loveland-Curtze et al., International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2009) 59, 1272 - 1277
Scientific Blogging - Herminiimonas Glaciei - Tiny Frozen Microbe..