SCIENTISTS have revived organisms dating back as far as 135 million years in an attempt to
develop "ancient antibiotics " to tackle bacteria resistant to conventional antibiotics.
The revival of more than 1,200 types of bacteria and other one-celled organisms by Dr Raul
Cano and Monica Borucki, of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, could
lead to the development of life-saving drugs.
The pair are working with a firm that hopes to use the genetically-unique organisms as a
source for drugs.
Ambergene, a San Carlos-based biotechnology company that has bought the rights to their
work from Cal Poly, has filed for broad patent protection.
Its president, Robin Steele, said: "Dr Cano's work enables us to tap into an unexplored universe of molecular diversity for the discovery of new drugs."
He explained that the company's primary interest was based on the expectation that these
prehistoric organisms would produce new classes of drugs to combat fungal and viral infections and "ancient antibiotics " to tackle the growing number of bacteria that have developed resistance to conventional antibiotics.
Ambergene believes its libraries of ancient genetic material will also be useful for new drug
discovery.
The paper describing the discovery that living prehistoric micro-organisms can be revived from amber - fossilised tree resin - is published today in the journal Science.
The age of the bacteria is determined from microscopic fossils in the rock strata from which
the amber comes. The youngest is about two million years old and the oldest 135 million.
Micro-organisms can withstand long periods of dormancy by forming spores.
Millions of years ago, the organisms became trapped in tree sap that fossilised and turned into amber - which provides an airtight seal that dehydrates and protects the sample. "Their spores have remained viable all these years, and by providing them with special nutrients and growth conditions, we have been able to revive these ancient organisms in our laboratory," said Dr Cano.
It has taken years to validate the discovery because previous claims had not dispelled doubts thatthe bacteria were really modern-day microbial contaminants.
To prove his discovery, Dr Cano took material from an extinct stingless bee, Proplebeia dominicana, after sterilising the exterior of its 25-40 million-year-old amber coffin.
He put it into a nutrient solution and living bacteria were then found to be growing. By comparing his ancient bacteria with those from modern stingless bees, he showed that prehistoric microbes had been revived.
Dr Cano said: "Although this scientific discovery is as fascinating as that conceived by Michael Crichton in his novel Jurassic Park, it's important to note that the amber in that fictional account yielded only DNA, whereas our research has resulted in the revival of micro-organisms.
"We have discovered a brand new source of organisms that could produce life-saving
pharmaceuticals or be used in valuable industrial processes."
He added: "The risk is very low. These bacteria are different enough to give us new substances, but not different enough that we can't recognise them. There's no more danger with these bacteria than there is with any newly-discovered, modern micro-organism."
Dr Cano said he could not be 100 per cent sure that the microbes would not be harmful to
humans but the chances were "very, very small".
A spokesman at Cal Poly said that Dr Cano and his students meticulously followed biological
safety procedures set by the National Institutes of Health.
The discovery does not lend any credence to fiction about reviving animals. "It has been known for some time that, because of their size, structure and composition, some bacteria can survive as spores for long periods, much as seeds outlive a plant," said Dr Cano. "That is not true of complex organisms."
A spokesman for Microcide Pharmaceuticals, which is collaborating in the development of
antibacterial compounds, said that every ancient microbe tested to date had exhibited antibacterial activity.
