How long can a living being remain buried under ice without destroying its cells? Decades, Centuries? For now,mosses that had been frozen under the Teardrop Glacier (Canada) since the Little Ice Age(1550-1850) have been able toregrowin the hands of scientists from the University of Alberta (Canada), who have cultivated them in vitro. Isregenerative capacity of bryophyte plants(that is, non-vascular) is essential for the recolonization and maintenance of polar terrestrial ecosystems.
A study published today inPNASdetails the work of Canadian researchers. Radiocarbon dating of three of the samples taken from the bottom of the Teardrop Glacier on Ellesmere Island (Canada) confirmed that the plants were buried under a glacier between 404.5 and 614.5 years ago, during the Little Ice Age.
From the great variety of bryophyte samples exhumed (60 species), eleven bryophyte cultures were able to be regrown in vitro. Plants belong to four different species: Aulacomnium turgidum, Distichium capillaceum, Encalypta proceraYRural syntrichia. According to the authors, this work “demonstrates the totipotent capacity of bryophytes,ability of your cells to ‘de-differentiate’ to a meristematic state analogous to stem cells, and to develop a new plant ”, as stated by the SINC agency.
In addition, bryophytes are poikilohydric, that is, they do not have mechanisms to control water content. This allows them to remain asleep in the event of desiccation and to revive when conditions are favorable again.
The authors assure thatthe lands exposed by the retreat of the glaciers “should not be considered sterile of terrestrial plants”. Subglacial plants are important for the recolonization and maintenance of polar terrestrial ecosystems.
