(ORDO NEWS) — It turns out that there are even such organisms that can remain unchanged for millions of years. Three populations of such bacteria have been found in California, Africa, and even Siberia. Scientists also found that they did not contact each other, but still they have something in common, and this is their genome, which has not changed since the time of Pangea, reports Nature.com.
For the first time, the bacterium Candidatus Desulforudisaudaxviator was discovered in South Africa, and there it lived underground, at a depth of more than 2.5 km. It is assumed that this bacterium has not yet seen the sun’s rays, and also has not yet been on the earth’s surface.
But the main question is how the microorganism was able to adapt to such difficult conditions. To understand this, scientists had to find two more groups of similar ones, and then carry out sequencing of their genomes. Initially, it was planned to find the differences and compare the environment in which microorganisms can exist. This method, in part, also applies to the works of Darwin, because it was he who studied the difference between finches on parallel islands. But all 126 were the same in the end.
But the only explanation they came up with is that this bacterium is part of a colony that was able to form and even adapt to life deep underground since the ancient times of Pangea. That is why bacteria of this genus have not changed over the entire 175 million years underground.
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