 |
Science QuestionsThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
 Science Questions RSS Feed |
|
I’d like to know if there are any life forms: plant, animal, fungus, whatever that are effectively immortal? Geoff Blackwell, Queensland, Australia |
|
We spoke to Dr John Nudds, Senior Lecturer in Palaeontology at the University of Manchester to find the answer...
If we turn our attention to the plant kingdom we can multiply these figures by a factor of ten. There’s a well-known example of the bristlecone pine trees which grow in the rocky mountains of North America. These are well-known to live for over 4000 years. I think the record’s about 4600 years. Again these figures have recently been doubled by research in Sweden. Scientists here came across a Norway spruce whose root system had been growing for 9550 years! If we now move onto some of the simpler life forms then the numbers do start to get really big. In 1995 a sample of bacteria was found in a stomach of a bee which was encased in amber which was dated at between 25 and 40 million years old. These bacteria were found in a state of suspended animation. They had to be reanimated in the laboratory. In scientific terms they were in what we would call a crypto-biotic state. It means the cells remained alive but none of the life processes were being carried out. They didn’t feed or reproduce so whether you consider this as immortality or not is open to question. To answer the question, the sad fact is that all cells do decompose with time. All cells age and all cells eventually die so sadly, as yet no life form has evolved that is immortal. |
July 2008 |
|
| Hi There! I think, in fact every liveform, which reproduces only through asexual Methods is immortal. They split and split ans split and split... and all the products are based on one origin. There will be no mother cell thats getting old and dies, but two daughter cells which are living on until they split again... bye aj... - atrox - 15th Jul 08
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis... - RD - 15th Jul 08
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis RD - please try to include some content with an answer, rather than just links, as this is more likely to stimulate a discussion. Thanks Chris... - chris - 15th Jul 08
Atrox could also be describing cloning. Parthenogenic offsping are not clones of their mother. Only clones could potentially be an immortal organism, e.g. a plant which replicates by vegetative propagation. Even then radioactivity or viruses could modify a clone's DNA creating genetic diversity. The use of the word "immortal" is highly optimistic: more than 99% of the species which have existed are extinct. Tardigrades are described in the NS article below as "indestructible", but "most resilient" would be more accurate... image source http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg16422095.100-indestructible.html... - RD - 16th Jul 08
Pardon my rudeness, but that looks like a micropenis!... - chris - 16th Jul 08
The shrunken dormant tardigrade above reminded me of the Clyde Auditorium... image source Images of plump tardigrades can be found here. http://tardigradesinspace.blogspot.com/ (Obviously a Dr Who fan) ... - RD - 16th Jul 08
How long are those tardigrades supposed to live for then?... - chris - 16th Jul 08
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrada http://pathfinderscience.net/tardigrades/cbackground.cfm ... - RD - 16th Jul 08
Another contender for the worlds hardiest organism is "Conan the Bacterium"... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans ... - RD - 19th Jul 08
Interestingly I interviewed a terrific scientist called Miroslav Radman who published a paper a couple of years back in which he explained how this bacterium manages to survive in corned beef tins that have been irradiated with a dose of ionising radiation sufficient to kill a human many times over. That's why it was called Deinococcus radiodurans when it was first identified about 50 years ago. The organism has multiple (8) copies of its genome which is uses rather like a RAID backup system. When the DNA is damaged by, for instance, ionising radiation, the intact pieces of the shattered individual genomes produce single-stranded extensions of their DNA message which links up with complementary single strands from other bits of the genome. The chances of all 8 genomes have a double strand break in exactly the same place is very low, so eventually a working copy of the entire genome is reassembled, restoring function to the organism. This single working copy is then used to regenerate the other 7 backup copies in preparation for the next brush with a corned beef can! Chris... - chris - 19th Jul 08
Professor Radman working with radiation is fair example of so-called nominative determinism, these are better... Dr Bonnie Beaver, gynecologist. Lord Brain, leading neurologist. Dr Dick Chopp, urologist (specialises in Peyronie's disease). Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform. Lord Justice Judge, British High Court judge. Dr Looney, psychiatrist. Cardinal Sin, former Archbishop of Manila. Anna Smashnova the Israeli tennis player. Dr Weedon, urologist. .... - RD - 20th Jul 08
No all earth life and indeed the whole universe is subject to relentless entropy anttend to dissapate into total disorder over time. Of course living for 10 00 years for us would be considered as immortal. But in the grand order of things absolutely impossible. Energy always morphs from hot to cold, order to disorder. We could delay death, but overcome it completely an impossibility only found as a possibility in religion... - Alan McDougall - 24th Jul 08
RD "Cardinal Sin" is he the chief of all sinners, just kidding!... - Alan McDougall - 24th Jul 08
The longest living clone plant is almost 5 times older that Norway spruce. It's Lomatia tasmanica, common name "King’s lomatia" named after Denny King who discovered it. It's found in Tasmania, Australia. See www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/Attachments/SSKA-756W2H/$FILE/Lomatia%20tasmanica.pdf and http://www1.parks.tas.gov.au/veg/lomatia/lomatia.html. ... - Andrew Walsh - 30th Jul 08
I would agree with this, even if there is some change in the genetics of the sister cells, they would still be from one original cell, hence the original did not die, nor were the sister cells born. It's like a unicellular plant/animal continuing to grow by increasing the number of cells, not as one whole body, but as a dismembered body in which each cell is capable of self support and self duplication. I don't see this as cloning, but as growing.... - Don_1 - 26th Aug 08
So in theory, if I take a cutting of my houseplant every 20 years and pass the new clone(s) down the generations under the same circumstances, could my plant live indefinetly?... - tr1 - 2nd Oct 08
Yes, I think so. Plants such as the strawberry do this naturally. The plant can reproduce in the usual sexual manner by crosspollination, fruiting and employing the services a bird or insect to move the seed to a new location, where a new genetic plant will grow. But the plant can also reproduce asexually by growing a 'runner' which will root some 15 or more cms from the original root. This 'new' plant continues to draw its nutrition from the original root stock until the new root is capable of supporting the already developing plant. The runner then dies off and the result is two genetically identical plants. In essence, this is not a new plant, but the same plant growing a new top before it grows a new root. It is the usual method employed by strawberry producers to increase their plant stock with a plant which will produce exactly the same results year after year. The original plant from which these 'new' plants are cultivated are disposed of, since they will not produce so much fruit in their second year as they did in the first. (Taken from gardenaction.co.uk) You can see here across the center of the picture a runner from the left hand plant. It already has top growth, but has not put down any root. The plant is feeding from the original rootstock. At the top of the picture is a 'new' plant which has put down it's own root. The runner will die off to leave two separate but genetically identical plants. In fact the plant will send out a number of runners in different directions. You could say that this is the plants equivalent of moving house, or migration. The runners find a new patch of soil which, with any luck, will be more nutritious than the soil it has been drawing from for the past few months and the more 'new' plants, the better the chances of at least one of them successfully overwintering. The plant is doing what it has to do to ensure it's survival. This process goes on year after year, the original plant, therefore, never truly dies, it merely takes up a new residence.... - Don_1 - 2nd Oct 08
I'm honestly surprised that no one has brought up HeLa cells (immortal cancer cells that many labs have used for research). Yes, they aren't technically alive in the normal sense of the word but the cancer cells can divide an unlimited number of times without any signs of stopping. ... - ouabache - 3rd Oct 08
Whole Thread | Post Reply | |
One of the longest living vertebrate animals, and many listeners will be aware of this, is the giant land tortoise. There’s a nice story about Captain Cook, the explorer, presenting one of these animals to the queen of Tonga in 1788. This animal eventually died in 1966, 188 years later. The animal was probably mature by the time he collected it.
The contents of this site are © The Naked Scientists® 2000-2008. The Naked Scientists® and Naked Science® are registered trademarks.