Scientists Revive 32,000-Year-Old Plant Right Out of the Pleistocene

The oldest plant ever to be “resurrected” has been grown from 32,000-year-old seeds, beating the previous record holder by some 30,000 years.

Fruiting (at left) and flowering plants of Silene stenophylla regenerated from tissue of fossil fruits (S. Yashina et al)

Back in 2007, a team of scientists from Russia, Hungary and the United States recovered frozen Silene stenophylla seeds and remains from the Pleistocene, while investigating about 70 ancient ground squirrel hibernation burrows or caches, hidden in permanently frozen loess-ice deposits in northeastern Siberia, in the plant’s present-day range.

Using radiocarbon dating, the age of the seeds was estimated at between 20,000 and 40,000 years, dating the seeds to the Pleistocene epoch. Rodents would normally eat the food in their larders, but in this case a flood or some other weather event got the whole area buried. Since the rodents had placed the larders at the level of the permafrost, the material froze almost immediately, and did not thaw out at any time since. More than 600,000 fruits and seeds thus preserved were located at the site.

Years later, a team of scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences went on to successfully revive one of them: a flowering plant from a 32,000-year-old fruit!

Immature fruit of Silene stenophylla buried in permafrost more than 30,000 years ago (S. Yashina et al)

The accomplishment surpasses the previous record for the oldest plant material brought back to life, of 2000 years set by Judean date palm seeds. The team led by David Gilichinsky used material recovered in the 2007 research project.

The researchers first attempted to germinate mature seeds recovered from the fruit. When these attempts failed, they turned to the fruit itself and were able to culture adult plants from placental tissue. The team grew 36 specimens from the tissue. The plants looked identical to modern specimens until they flowered, at which time the petals were observed to be longer and more widely spaced than modern versions of the plant. Seeds produced by the regenerated plants germinated at a 100% success rate, compared with 90% for modern plants. Scientists are unsure why the observed variations occur.

Clonal micropropagation of Silene stenophylla regenerated from placenta tissue of immature 30,000-y-old fruits buried in permafrost deposits. (А) Initial shoot initiated from placental tissue in vitro. (В) Stages of clonal micropropagation from primary shoots to rooted plants. (Scale bars, 20 mm.) (S. Yashina et al)

According to Robin Probert of the Millennium Seed Bank, the demonstration is “by far the most extraordinary example of extreme longevity for material from higher plants” to date. It is not surprising to find living material this old, but is surprising that viable material could be recovered,” she added.

The reasons for the success of the experiment can be manyfold. The Russian scientists involved speculated that the tissue cells were rich in sucrose which acted as a preservative. They also noted that DNA damage caused by gamma radiation from natural ground radioactivity at the site was unusually low for the plant material’s age and is comparable to levels observed in 1300-year-old lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) seeds proven to germinate.

The revived plant at full blossom stage. (S. Yashina et al)

Probert hopes that the techniques developed in the resurrection of Silene stenophylla may one day be used to resurrect extinct species. Paleontologist Grant Zazula, who has previously disproven claims of ancient regeneration, said:

“This discovery raises the bar incredibly in terms of our understanding in terms of the viability of ancient life in the permafrost.”

He is right. We have no idea what else might be coming from there…

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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34 COMMENTS

  1. As a botanist , I am fascinated to know how hundreds of years old plant tissue can be regenerated to a full grown plant producing seeds! It would be interesting to know that except date palm seeds from very hot climate , what other seeds can be germinated or have been germinated after hundreds/ thousands of years!

  3. I wonder … With the melting of frozen areas, could these seeds have sprouted on their own and none would ha e been the wiser? Also, in areas that are melting at alarming rate, that have been frozen for longer periods of time, someone has to be looking for plant species that are new … To us.

    • The plants didn’t sprout from seeds….they were cloned up from their plant tissue…. then propagated well once a few reached maturity.

  4. I think the most interesting thing of note is that they had to use placental tissue seeds in order to re grow anything!

    Use of adult seeds proved fruitless! Haha.

    But seriously, that is fascinating, & quite an elegant solution, thinking outside the box for sure!! ?

  5. This could raise hope that mastodon or woolly mammoth fertilized egg cells may be found and implanted in a mama elephant, maybe???

    • More than likely gene splicing will bring them back…if my reading is up to date on the mammoth recovery effort…which may be part of healing damaged dteppes and edges of forested areas in the subarctic….and eventually they can mate again if all goes well.

  6. Looks like several awesome, ancient items are being found and resurrected in the Siberian permafrost—by Russian teams of scientists. Russia may have a new reputation to claim now. I hope so. I’m tired of calling them the big bad commies.

  13. This is not the year for this…we have like how many movies that prove bringing something back that is extinct…is a bad idea.

  17. Extraordinary achievement ⭐️ I wonder what the purpose of this is, your goal. I know that there are also millions of viruses underneath the ice… hope they can stay there for long ?

    • They have developed and proven a technique for resurrecting plants. Could be extremely valuable should some disease wipe out a plant species. Find a way to stop the disease, then resurrect the plant from long “dead” samples.

  18. Great to see Robin still with the Millennium Seed Bank. This is an amazing achievement to propagate a plant from such ancient material.

    In regards to the greater germination of the seeds from the plants raised from the ancient material, do we know if the modern plants seed is only achieving 90% germination because of dormancy or a lack of viability?

    Both could be influenced by the environmental conditions that the parent plants were grown in too. Were the ancient plants and modern plants raised to produce seed under similar conditions?

    I look forward to seeing future developments in regards to this topic!

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