Multicellular organisms can survive in permafrost conditions for tens of thousands of years

Scientists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry and Biological Problems of Plant Protection of the Russian Academy of Sciences have obtained the first data demonstrating the ability of multicellular organisms to undergo long-term cryobiosis in permafrost deposits of the Arctic.

For the first time, data have been obtained indicating the ability of multicellular organisms to long-term cryobiosis in Arctic permafrost deposits. Living soil nematodes Panagrolaimus
aff. detritophagus (Rhabditida) and Plectus aff. parvus (Plectida) were isolated from samples of Pleistocene permafrost deposits of the Kolyma Lowland. The duration of natural cryopreservation of the nematodes corresponds to the age of the deposits and is 30–40 thousand years.

The article was published in 2018 in the journal Doklady Biological Sciences, May 2018, Volume 480, Issue 1, pp 100–102