Scientists are attempting to decode an ancient flower species to understand why its seeds can “hibernate” for tens of thousands of years.
Many years ago, Russian explorers discovered a cache of 32,000-year-old seeds from a flower species known scientifically as Silene stenophylla, buried under a squirrel’s den at a depth of 20 to 40 meters near the Kolyma River in Siberia, within the permafrost. Among the excavation site, many remains of mammoths, bison, and Woolly Rhinoceroses from the Ice Age were also found.
While many mature seeds were damaged with rodent gnaw marks, some of the immature seeds retained viable tissues.
The research team subsequently extracted tissues from the immature seeds, placed them in test tubes, and successfully germinated the plants. The regenerated plants are identical but have a slightly different appearance from modern Silene stenophylla. They are larger, flower, and produce new seeds in less than a year.
The plant grown from the 32,000-year-old seeds flowering on June 30 in the laboratory. (Photo: CGTN).
New research indicates that the permafrost from the Ice Age is actually an excellent genetic reservoir. Here, it may be possible to find and revive any plant species that has gone extinct.
This is considered the longest-buried plant seeds ever revived. The results mark a significant advance in the study of ancient biological materials and raise hopes of recovering plant species that have disappeared.
The research team from the Russian Academy of Sciences extracted ovule tissues from the frozen seeds and cultured them in a nutrient-rich medium. Under controlled temperature and light conditions, the tissues germinated, developed roots, and grew into plants within a greenhouse environment.
At the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna in Austria, Professor Margit Laimer and colleagues are working to sequence the genome and decode the DNA of this ancient plant species. They aim to discover what is unique about its genome and how the components of this genome interact. The ultimate goal is to find the conditions that allow seeds to hibernate for tens of thousands of years.
Austrian scientists are working to decode the genome of Silene stenophylla. (Photo: CGTN).
“Plants also change and adapt to the environment. We hope to find changes in the genome that help plants adapt to extremely dry, cold, or hot conditions. Using this knowledge, we can identify methods to improve plant varieties,” Laimer stated.
Professor Margit Laimer expressed that scientists are very interested in understanding which changes in plant genes can adapt to extremely dry, hot, or cold conditions. This knowledge is useful in addressing climate change.
Silene stenophylla is classified within the Carnation family. This flowering plant with white blossoms grows in the Arctic tundra and northern mountainous regions of Japan. They are only 5 to 15 cm tall, with narrow leaves and large calyxes.
