Regeneration of whole fertile plants from 30,000-y-old fruit tissue buried in Siberian permafrost
Edited by P. Buford Price, University of California, Berkeley, CA, and approved January 25, 2012 (received for review November 8, 2011)
Abstract
Whole, fertile plants of Silene stenophylla Ledeb. (Caryophyllaceae) have been uniquely regenerated from maternal, immature fruit tissue of Late Pleistocene age using in vitro tissue culture and clonal micropropagation. The fruits were excavated in northeastern Siberia from fossil squirrel burrows buried at a depth of 38 m in undisturbed and never thawed Late Pleistocene permafrost sediments with a temperature of −7 °C. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating showed fruits to be 31,800 ± 300 y old. The total γ-radiation dose accumulated by the fruits during this time was calculated as 0.07 kGy; this is the maximal reported dose after which tissues remain viable and seeds still germinate. Regenerated plants were brought to flowering and fruiting and they set viable seeds. At present, plants of S. stenophylla are the most ancient, viable, multicellular, living organisms. Morphophysiological studies comparing regenerated and extant plants obtained from modern seeds of the same species in the same region revealed that they were distinct phenotypes of S. stenophylla. The first generation cultivated from seeds obtained from regenerated plants progressed through all developmental stages and had the same morphological features as parent plants. The investigation showed high cryoresistance of plant placental tissue in permafrost. This natural cryopreservation of plant tissue over many thousands of years demonstrates a role for permafrost as a depository for an ancient gene pool, i.e., preexisting life, which hypothetically has long since vanished from the earth's surface, a potential source of ancient germplasm, and a laboratory for the study of rates of microevolution.
Acknowledgments
This paper is dedicated to Dr. David Gilichinsky, the longtime Head of Geocryology Lab. A pioneer in studying microorganisms in Siberian and Antarctic permafrost, his achievement attracted scientists from all over the world to research on permafrost life systems. We thank Dr. N. V. Obrucheva for discussions and encouragement, Dr. A. G. Devyatov for verification and identification of the plants, and Professors P. J. Webber, M. M. Webber, and M. A. Holland for help with scientific editing.
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Cover image: Connected to the Nile’s floodwaters, the oasis pictured here was developed after 280 BCE by Ptolemy II, son of one of Alexander’s generals. Cultivation and productivity in the region were expanded through a regulator dam that controlled the influx of Nile water, while an outer ring of master canals helped secure irrigation for new lands. The article by Karl W. Butzer, part of the Critical Perspectives on Historical Collapse Special Feature, reports that a succession of plague, reduced Nile floods, and mismanagement, led to the collapse of the upstream canals, depopulation, and widespread abandonment, illustrating the ecological dereliction of a landscape that did not fully recover until about 1900 CE. See the Perspective by Karl W. Butzer on pages 3632–3639. Image courtesy of Karl W. Butzer and John Oswald (University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX).
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Published online: February 21, 2012
Published in issue: March 6, 2012
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Acknowledgments
This paper is dedicated to Dr. David Gilichinsky, the longtime Head of Geocryology Lab. A pioneer in studying microorganisms in Siberian and Antarctic permafrost, his achievement attracted scientists from all over the world to research on permafrost life systems. We thank Dr. N. V. Obrucheva for discussions and encouragement, Dr. A. G. Devyatov for verification and identification of the plants, and Professors P. J. Webber, M. M. Webber, and M. A. Holland for help with scientific editing.
Notes
*This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor.
2
Deceased February 18, 2012.
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Competing Interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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