In a mining reserve of South Africa, sealed in the fracture of a rock, which dates back to 2 billion years ago, living microbes were found.
A discovery in the depths of the earth has changed our way of seeing the resilience of life: microbes, sealed in a rock fracture dating back to 2 billion years ago, were found alive. A discovery – whose results were exhibited in the microbial ecology magazine – which redefines the boundaries of survival. Yohey Suzuki, associate professor at the Graduate School of Science of the University of Tokyo, explained the importance of the discovery as: “We did not know that rocks of this age could host life: until today, the oldest environment in which living microorganisms had been found was a deposit of 100 million years under the ocean seabed».
An underground refuge. The sample that hosts these ancient microbes comes from BushVeld Igneous Complex (BIC), in the north-east of South Africa, a vast area as a fifth of Italy, famous for its immense mining reserves: about 70% of the world platinum comes from here. Thanks to its training as a slowly cooled magma, the BIC has maintained stable conditions for microbial life for billions of years.
With the support of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), the Team of the University of Tokyo has extracted a sample of 30 centimeters long caring from about 16 meters underground. The rock, with thickness up to 8.8 kilometers, remained almost undisturbed, offering a Ideal habitat for microbial survival on geological temporal stairs. When scientists analyzed thin sections of rock, they found microbial cells grouped inside tiny cracks, sealed by layers of clay who protected them from external interference. These bodies have lived in slow motion, evolving over the course of millions of years.
The authenticity of the discovery. To ascertain that the microbes were really native e non -contaminantthe researchers used a combination of infrared spectroscopy, electronic microscopy and fluorescence microscopy. By coloring the cell DNA and examining the surrounding proteins and clay, they confirmed that the organisms were alive and natives of the ancient champion. The clay played a key role in their conservationcreating a natural barrier that sealed fractures and prevented exchanges with the external environment.
This protection mechanism raises an intriguing question: similar processes may exist elsewhere, Maybe on Mars? If so, the chances of finding life forms preserved on other planets could be much higher than we imagine.
Search for primordial life. This discovery offers scientists an extraordinary opportunity: observing surviving organisms for billions of years and studying their ability to adapt to extreme conditions.
«I am very interested in the possibility of finding microbes in subsoil of other planets»Said Suzuki. NASA, with the Rover Mars Perseverance, is currently collecting Martian champions of age similar to those analyzed in this study. The techniques perfected in this research could prove to be fundamental for studying extraterrestrial rock samples.
The idea that life can persist in insulation for such long times challenges our idea of adaptation and survival. These microbes are real capsules of the time living and offer a snapshot of the life of millions of years ago.
