According to New York University bacteriologist Martin Blaser, a team will crack open the sealed vessel, revive and culture the spores, before extracting and sequencing their genetic code. By comparing this to sequences pulled from the modern C.perfringens, researchers will be able to see what, if any, changes have occurred in the subsequent 144 years since their internment.
[Wired UK]
Christian
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:26 PMThis is absolutely magic!
What a fantastic discovery!!
DarthDVD
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 8:25 AMWell if this Bacteria is 144 years old(er) than the current version of this Bacteria then this will be very interesting…. this may lead to a different way to combat this Bacteria or all Bacteria’s. we even maybe able to see what the Bacteria has done to combat antibiotics.. and then counter that.
Garygum
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 11:41 PMWe know what mechanisms bacteria use to eliminate antibiotics already. It’s just a question of whether or not they express these mechanisms (it’s ridiculously easy to pass genes amongst bacteria, and use of antibiotics means that the resistant ones survive). In a single individual, repeated antibiotic use can lead to cultivation of multiple resistant strains. I’m all for medical progress, but I don’t see this making a big impact.