Amber, DNA, and viable seeds

[Johnny Pneumatic]

bringing back long-dead plants?

 

[Dymanic]

not likely.

 

[geni]

Bacteria from spores migh be posible (there is some evidence either way) but with plants I suspect there would be too much damge to the DNA and to be honest who wants another boring fern.

 

[Brian]

I want the goddamn Mammoth or nothing at all!
I got real excited years back when they found one in the ice. Love to see one walking around a zoo. Sadly, it seems that's just not going to happen.
Did anyone ever see any pics of the carcass? I could never find any. I emailed the discovery channel website, they just sent me links to the articles.

 

[Jon_in_london]

I suppose its possible that a very very old seed may still be viable- if the conditions are just right. Bacterial* and fungal spores are even better odds.

The problem with the whole 'Jurassic Park' things is firstly, you need an entire, intact genome which is almost completely impossible. Secondly, not all DNA is in the nucleus (think mitochondria) so even if you did get an entire intact genome from say, a mammoth cell, you would still need to put this genome into a mammoth egg to get a true mammoth.

You could use an elephant cell and get something that is very similar to a mammoth but it still wont really be a mammoth.

* IIRC they retrived bacterial spores from a camera left on the moon and they were still viable.

 

[MRC_Hans]

Camara on the moon? No two Apollo missions were to the same site, so I sincerely doubt that.

Viability of seeds follows something that looks like a half-life function (provided comparable preservation conditions), so even if some seeds have the ability to survive very long, the chance of finding one that is viable after 50-150 million years seems slim.

The flower Rosebay Willowherb (Epilobium angustifolium) has seeds that are known to survive for centuries.

Hans

 

[geni]

Camara on the moon? No two Apollo missions were to the same site, so I sincerely doubt that.

The camara came from and unmanned lander that has landed some years perviously.

 

[Dymanic]

Originally posted by Jon_in_london


The problem with the whole 'Jurassic Park' things is firstly, you need an entire, intact genome which is almost completely impossible.

In the movie, they patched up the gaps with frog DNA.

 

[Prester John]

I recall there was a claim made that someone had revived million or so year old bacterial spores but there was some doubt as to whether or not the samples got contaminated.

 

[geni]

I recall there was a claim made that someone had revived million or so year old bacterial spores but there was some doubt as to whether or not the samples got contaminated.

The people who did got some million year old salt crystals and disolved them and were than abe to culture bacteria from the mix. the problem is how can you garentee that the spores have been in there for as long as the crystal has existed.