# Scientists bring 500 million-year-old bacteria back to life



## micropage7 (Jul 16, 2012)

A 500 million-year-old bacteria has been brought back to life in a laboratory at Georgia Tech in an experiment with echoes of Jurassic Park's disastrous recreation of the dinosaurs. 

The researchers have resurrected a 500-million-year-old gene and inserted it into a modern E Coli bacteria.

The 'Frankenstein' germ has thrived. In the lab, the creation has now lived through 1,000 generations. 

The scientists hope to find out whether the 'ancient' bacteria will evolve the same way it did 'first time round' - or whether it will evolve into a different, new organism.

‘This is as close as we can get to rewinding and replaying the molecular tape of life,’ said scientist Betül Kaçar, a NASA astrobiology postdoctoral fellow in Georgia Tech. 

The new 'chimeric' bacteria has mutated rapidly - and some have become stronger and healthier than today's germs. 

‘The ability to observe an ancient gene in a modern organism as it evolves within a modern cell allows us to see whether the evolutionary trajectory once taken will repeat itself or whether a life will adapt following a different path.’

‘The altered organism wasn’t as healthy or fit as its modern-day version, at least initially,’ said Gaucher, ‘and this created a perfect scenario that would allow the altered organism to adapt and become more fit as it accumulated mutations with each passing day.’

The growth rate eventually increased and, after the first 500 generations, the scientists sequenced the genomes of all eight lineages to determine how the bacteria adapted

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2172406/Jurassic-Park-Petri-dish-Scientists-recreate-500-million-year-old-bacteria-lab--possibly-wrong.html?ITO=1490

http://phys.org/news/2012-07-scientists-million-year-old-gene-modern.html


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## VulkanBros (Jul 16, 2012)

Stuff for horror movies - creepy


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## bbmarley (Jul 16, 2012)

shit like this will end the world


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## Outback Bronze (Jul 16, 2012)

Gees, how can u resurrect bacteria?


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## _ALB_R3D X (Jul 16, 2012)

Outback Bronze said:


> Gees, how can u resurrect bacteria?



U have to choose Assault(BF3) and equip the defibrillator...JK
Next chapter is revive Mamooths???


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jul 16, 2012)

This article is trying too hard. It's a gene, not a whole species of bacteria, and the study of the generational changes is hardly more interesting than the million other attempts to stimulate bacterial evolution.

The only interesting thing about this is how they were able to extract a 500 million year old gene from some dead bacteria. The article doesn't even cover that.


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## vega22 (Jul 16, 2012)

thats just what we need, a 500 mil year old gen mutating e coli.....

how much did they spend on their educations and they still think its a good idea?

only in america.


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## Sasqui (Jul 16, 2012)

micropage7 said:


> The scientists hope to find out whether the 'ancient' bacteria will evolve the same way it did 'first time round' - or whether it will evolve into a different, new organism.



From all the mechanisms we know about natural selction, suspect it'll mutate differently.  They didn't grow in petri dishes 500 million years ago.


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## acerace (Jul 16, 2012)

Yay, now we can divide by 0. Great!!


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## TheMailMan78 (Jul 16, 2012)

marsey99 said:


> thats just what we need, a 500 mil year old gen mutating e coli.....
> 
> how much did they spend on their educations and they still think its a good idea?
> 
> only in america.



You guys cloned a sheep........you guys sure love sheep.


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## acerace (Jul 16, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> You guys cloned a sheep........you guys sure love sheep.



Here we go..


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## FordGT90Concept (Jul 16, 2012)

If that is released into the wild, who knows how it will upset the ecosystem.


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## VulkanBros (Jul 16, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> You guys cloned a sheep........you guys sure love sheep.



Dolly TheMailMan


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## white phantom (Jul 16, 2012)

i wonder if they can bring back to life.... some dino sperm  ...jurrasic park here i come


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## Random Murderer (Jul 16, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> http://www.myfacewhen.net/uploads/2029-kill-it-with-fire.jpg
> 
> If that is released into the wild, who knows how it will upset the ecosystem.



Exactly what I was thinking. If, somehow, this bacteria makes it out of the lab and into the general populous, the consequences could be dire. Or not. Who knows?
To a degree I believe it's research like this that furthers our overall understanding of where we've come from and to a lesser extent, where we're headed. On the other hand, it's research like this that scares the crap out of me, lol.


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## dorsetknob (Jul 16, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> You guys cloned a sheep........you guys sure love sheep.


And the proper response is
Bahh bahh bahh
Don't forget Louise Brown (1st IVF Test tube Baby)


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jul 16, 2012)

Interesting read, wonder how far they will let this go.



acerace said:


> Here we go..



I think you meant to quote the guy who started the poking, MM just responded to him.


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## suraswami (Jul 16, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> Exactly what I was thinking. If, somehow, this bacteria makes it out of the lab and into the general populous, the consequences could be dire. Or not. Who knows?
> To a degree I believe it's research like this that furthers our overall understanding of where we've come from and to a lesser extent, where we're headed. On the other hand, it's research like this that scares the crap out of me, lol.



No worries as long as Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis are around.


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## Over_Lord (Jul 16, 2012)

Will this bring the Zombie Apocalypse?


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## phanbuey (Jul 16, 2012)

it is e-coli - it is not airborne. Yet.


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## acerace (Jul 17, 2012)

1Kurgan1 said:


> Interesting read, wonder how far they will let this go.
> 
> 
> 
> I think you meant to quote the guy who started the poking, MM just responded to him.



Everyone knows, don't feed the trolls. But everyone also knows MM, he loves trolls.


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## ViperXTR (Jul 18, 2012)

Its...The Thing


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## Static~Charge (Jul 18, 2012)

micropage7 said:


> The researchers have resurrected a 500-million-year-old gene and inserted it into a modern E Coli bacteria.



And 24 hours later, the researchers discovered the origin of "Montezuma's Revenge"....


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## D007 (Jul 18, 2012)

Oh FFS.. Really?! Really?!... They better test that shit on theselves first BEFORE they see how it affects a world population in the billions when they accidentally release it onto the planet again..


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## bostonbuddy (Jul 18, 2012)

Yeah on lists of things not to do because it may cause the extinction of the human race this is pretty far up there.


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## D007 (Jul 18, 2012)

and Ecoli? Really, Ecoli isn't already dangerous enough? you decided to take a deadly bacteria and idk, maybe see if you could turn it into a super bacteria/virus? Wtf is wrong with people?
Couldn't of gotten idk, foot fungus or something to merge it with? It had to be one of the most notable and dangerous bacterias there are? FFS, why not just merge it with some flesh eating virus then?  Oh I'm sure you could of tossed some hepatitis c in there for shits and giggles.. This is.. so stupid.. At least do it in steps and merge it with things less dangerous..

New flash in 10 years. "subway super ecoli turns consumers into dinosaurs"  Oh yea....That'll be fun..

PS:The plague is still around, don't think an old virus can't come back and kick ass. Because weather or not you know it, the Bubonic plague is still alive and kicking..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...apes-death-cat-bite.html?ICO=most_read_module


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## INSTG8R (Jul 18, 2012)

AHHHH so this explains The Walking Dead...

But seriously how long until messing with fire gets us seriously burnt :shadedshu


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## WhiteLotus (Jul 18, 2012)

D007 said:


> and Ecoli? Really, Ecoli isn't already dangerous enough?



Yes _E. coli_. Why? Because it's pretty harmless and easy to grow. There is _E. coli_ happily growing in your gut, that aids in digestion. There is also the bad kind of _E. coli_ that is easy to kill.

Simply put, _E. coli_ is a good bacteria to manipulate and change, but at the same time, really easy to grow, control, and reproduce.


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## Static~Charge (Jul 19, 2012)

WhiteLotus said:


> There is also the bad kind of _E. coli_ that is easy to kill.



And then there are the E. coli strains that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. Be _very_ careful which strain gets used in your gene-splicing experiments.


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## Random Murderer (Jul 19, 2012)

bostonbuddy said:


> Yeah on lists of things not to do because it may cause the extinction of the human race this is pretty far up there.


People thought the same of the large Hadron collider, but that black hole never opened and sucked the Earth into it...
Don't get me wrong, this is some scary stuff, but it's being contained in negative-pressure labs by some of the smartest people in the world.
It scares the hell out of me to think what would happen if it did escape the lab, but I'm not worried in the least and I think everyone should put their worries to rest. The world's ending in a few months anyway


Static~Charge said:


> And then there are the E. coli strains that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. Be _very_ careful which strain gets used in your gene-splicing experiments.


Pretty sure a group of scientists smart enough to be splicing multi-million-year-old bacteria are careful, otherwise they would have died from previous experiments.


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## scoutingwraith (Jul 20, 2012)

Stuff like this amazes me and scares me at the same time. For sure we dont know the implications on what will this bacteria do if by any chance mistakenly gets released into the wild.


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## D007 (Jul 20, 2012)

WhiteLotus said:


> Yes _E. coli_. Why? Because it's pretty harmless and easy to grow. There is _E. coli_ happily growing in your gut, that aids in digestion. There is also the bad kind of _E. coli_ that is easy to kill.
> 
> Simply put, _E. coli_ is a good bacteria to manipulate and change, but at the same time, really easy to grow, control, and reproduce.



Lol really easy to grow. So it thrives and adapts.. Yea that won't cause any problems.. 
Control? You have got to be kidding. We have 0 control.. We can't even control ourselves, much less what could happen with something like this.



Random Murderer said:


> Pretty sure a group of scientists smart enough to be splicing multi-million-year-old bacteria are careful, otherwise they would have died from previous experiments.



Everybodys lucky.. Until they aren't..
It's cool, I'm ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.


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## Random Murderer (Jul 20, 2012)

D007 said:


> It's cool, I'm ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.



You and me both, brother.
Couple of sardine cans and boxes full of ammo, bring it on!
Considering you're so close, we'll have to meet up and combine firepower to find more survivors. I would recommend you coming here as there's a "stronghold" around here...


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## Munki (Jul 20, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> You guys cloned a sheep........you guys sure love sheep.



I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

To keep the post on topicish..i'm like 5 minutes from GA Tech, so if im not b*tching neither should you all. I'll get eaten by the mad scientist project first.


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## Random Murderer (Jul 20, 2012)

Munki said:


> I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
> 
> To keep the post on topicish..i'm like 5 minutes from GA Tech, so if im not b*tching neither should you all. I'll get eaten by the mad scientist project first.



Eaten? You mean converted...


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## Munki (Jul 20, 2012)

Random Murderer said:


> Eaten? You mean converted...



Coming from the person with a red t-rex (e-coli maybe?) as an avatar.  

j/k j/k


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