Thursday, July 12, 2012

Scientists Bring 500 Million-Year-Old Bacteria Back To Life

The new 'chimeric' bacteria has mutated rapidly - and some have become stronger and healthier than today's germs

Jurassic Park In A Petri Dish: Scientists Bring 500 Million-Year-Old Bacteria Back To Life - What Could Possibly Go Wrong? -- Daily Mail

* 'Frankenstein' germ spliced with gene from 500-million-year-old bacteria
* Bacteria is now thriving in lab
* Some of the 'chimeric' E Coli is now stronger than normal bacteria
* Scientists hope to 'restage' evolution
* Will answer questions about how and why organisms evolve

A 500 million-year-old bacteria has been brought back to life in a laboratory at Georgia Tech in an experiment with echoes of Jurassic Park's disastrous recreation of the dinosaurs.

The researchers have resurrected a 500-million-year-old gene and inserted it into a modern E Coli bacteria.

The 'Frankenstein' germ has thrived. In the lab, the creation has now lived through 1,000 generations.

Read more ....

My Comment: It's only a matter of time before they start working on larger gene sequences.

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