RUSSIAN BIOLOGISTS ON PERMAFROST MICROORGANISMS

Russian biologists interview on studying permafrost microorganism. Scientists studied soil samples from permafrost taken in Eastern Siberia. Soil layers dating back more than three million years and found several types of viable microorganisms in them. In this study, scientists performed a genomic analysis of microorganisms in soil samples extracted from permafrost in the Aldan River region in Central Yakutia. Scientists estimate the age of the layer from 3-3.5 million years. During all this time, fluctuations in the minimum temperature never affected the frozen state of these deposits, and the structure of the bacterial community in them remained unchanged and unknown.