The world's oldest bacteria(tion has ceased says Eske Wilerslev. ...)

After the fieldwork and the isolation of the DNA, the researchers compared the DNA to DNA from a worldwide gene-bank in the US to identify the ancient material. Much in the same way the police compares fingerprints from a crime. The researchers were able to place the DNA more precisely and to place it in a context.

There is a very long way, of course, from our basic research towards understanding why some cells can become that old. But it is interesting in this context to look at how cells break down and are restored and thus are kept over a very long period. Our methods and results can be used to determine if there was ever life on Mars the way we perceive life on earth. And then there is the grand perspective in relation to Darwins evolution theory. It predicts that life never returnms to the same genetic level. But our findings allows us to post the question: are we dealing with a circular evolution where development, so to speak, bites its own tail if and when ancient DNA are mixed with new", says Eske Willerslev.

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