# That Biologist Whose Revived Ancient Bacteria-Has he Unleashed any plagues? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171 "2005-02-09T08:50:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171/1 "2005-02-09T08:50:13Z")
A few years back, a UC-San Jose biologist (sorry, forget the name) announced that he had cultured some ancient bacteria, found in the gut of a honeybee (which was presevered in 100-million year old amber). Supposedly, the bacteria became viable after a “sleep” of 100 million years! Isn’t this a dangerous thing to do?Suppose some ancient bugs were to escape from his lab-couldthey be deadly tomodern animals and man? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171/2 "2005-02-09T13:29:33Z")
Extremely unlikely. Any bacteria from that era would have evolved to exist in organisms of that erea. Except for insects, arthropods et al, life from that era is largely extinct. No good host organisms. Plus, decendents of period creatures would likely have had plenty of time to develop their immune systems & defences. So, no. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171/3 "2005-02-09T14:21:10Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Any bacteria from that era would have evolved to exist in organisms of that erea. So if I could travel back to the Jurassic period, do you think I wouldn’t be at risk for some hellacious bacteria that just happens to find my biology a target of opportunity? ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171/4 "2005-02-09T21:20:49Z")
I suppose the first thing to mention, is that all bacteria are not pathogenic. In fact, most bacteria are not pathogenic. I’ve read up on this a bit since you posted it, and it appears that the cultured spores are similar (95-93%) to the modern bacterial species _Bacillus sphaericus_, which oddly enough, also happens to be the bacteria that is sprayed on ponds to kill mosquito larva. Anyway, the bacterial spores were isolated from the gut of a bee which was trapped in amber. The contents of the gut were removed aseptically, and placed in a nutrient broth (TSB for anyone who cares), and ta da! Ancient bacterial culture. There is indeed a risk in this kind of research. The risk is not so much to humans, although it is in the realm of possibility that a pathogen which could infect humans could be cultured, the risk is to modern bees. The researchers were assuming that the bee from which the ancient _B. sphaericus_ was cultured was healthy, and was simply smothered by the amber. Thus they assumed that the organism(s) if any, would be commensals not pathogens. They had also taken an electron micrograph, and thought they saw a what appeared to be very similar to modern _Bacillus megaterium_ endospores. This is a nice guess, but I’m not sure what they would have done if apian pathogen had been cultured. Also remember that any bacterial species that could be cultured from something this old would have to be spore-formers. Spore formers are generally non-pathogenic with a few exceptions (anthrax, botulism). So basically, yes they could have created a plague, but they knew they probably wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171/5 "2005-02-09T23:34:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Has he Unleashed any plagues? Yes. We’re all dead right now. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171/6 "2005-02-09T23:57:14Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Extremely unlikely. > > Any bacteria from that era would have evolved to exist in organisms of that erea. > > Except for insects, arthropods et al, life from that era is largely extinct. No good host organisms. > > Plus, decendents of period creatures would likely have had plenty of time to develop their immune systems & defences. > > So, no. So was the ending of Wells’ **War of the Worlds** implausible, or are there different rules for bacteria from other planets as opposed to other time periods? And are we pretty safe from zombie bacteria from space? (dibs on band name) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171/7 "2005-02-10T00:10:29Z")
> [@TPWombat](#): > > So was the ending of Wells’ **War of the Worlds** implausible, or are there different rules for bacteria from other planets as opposed to other time periods? > And are we pretty safe from zombie bacteria from space? (dibs on band name) Some experts _have_ argued that no form of life from another planet could consume/subsist upon life from our own, due to differing amino acids. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-biologist-whose-revived-ancient-bacteria-has-he-unleashed-any-plagues/289171/8 "2005-02-10T00:48:09Z")
Interestingly enough, Mars and Earth have been trading rocks for their entire histories. These rocks are ejected from the surface by impacts, and they can actually be blasted into space relatively unshocked, so goodly-sized chunks of rock will remain intact and unmelted. They can travel between the planets in something on the order of 100,000 years, fall as meteorites, and land safely on the surface. Crack it open, and, _voila_, instant extraplanetary contamination! Whee!