Longevity — 24,000 years!

[Axtremus]

h/t @wtg

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/microscopic-animal-bdelloid-rotifer-frozen-siberian-permafrost/

Multicellular micro-organism found to have survived for 24,000 years in cryptobiosis under the Siberian permafrost, and it could still still reproduce asexually after being thawed!

[Horace]

Reproduce asexually? Is that what they’re calling it these days? Not surprising that that’s the first priority upon waking from a 24000 year coma.

[Jolly]

Ax is apparently interested in anyway he can fuck himself...

[Klaus]

Wow. I'm also impressed that the cells can survive being freezed.

[bachophile]

@klaus said in Longevity — 24,000 years!:

Wow. I'm also impressed that the cells can survive being freezed.

Cells are frozen all the time. In our institutions T cell therapy program for TILs and CARs we freeze Cell lines on a regular basis.

I think the issue here is the time frame and that it’s a multicellular organism.

https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/IL/en/technical-documents/protocol/cell-culture-and-cell-culture-analysis/mammalian-cell-culture/cryopreservation-of-cell-lines

[Klaus]

@bachophile said in Longevity — 24,000 years!:

Cells are frozen all the time.

But isn't it usually the case that, unless special precautions are taken, the ice crystals destroy the cell?

[bachophile]

@klaus

Honestly I’m not a lab person so I don’t know the details but cryopreservation is pretty standard.

https://www.thermofisher.com/il/en/home/references/gibco-cell-culture-basics/cell-culture-protocols/freezing-cells.html

[Jolly]

To thaw out red cells, we use a glycerin wash, followed by a couple of saline washes.

Rare types (yes, we have a local family of Bombay Rh null) can be stored for years.