Antarctic Lake Vostok yields 'new bacterial life'

[dipsydoodle]

Russian scientists have claimed the discovery of a new type of bacterial life in water from a buried Antarctic lake.

The researchers have been studying samples brought up from Vostok - the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica.

Last year, the team drilled through almost 4km (2.34 miles) of ice to reach the lake and retrieve samples.

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"After putting aside all possible elements of contamination, DNA was found that did not coincide with any of the well-known types in the global database," said Sergei Bulat, of the genetics laboratory at the St Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21709225

[840high]

1. Interesting.

[Webster Green]

2. These scientists should proceed with caution.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thanks for the update.

Interesting assortment of images of Lake Vostok at Google Images.

Amazing info.

[Jim__]

4. Russians now say new Antarctica bacteria actually contamination

From NBC NEWS:

Late last week, a Russian news outlet reported that scientists at Antarctica's Lake Vostok, buried under miles of ice, said they had found bacteria that appeared to be new to science. Now, the head of that lab has said the signature is actually just contamination, leading outside researchers to say that the Russian team rushed too quickly to announce the possibility of new bacterial life.

Russian news media reported last week that the team had found DNA from a microbe that did not appear in databases and is only 86 percent similar to others on Earth — considered a reliable threshold of new life.

On Monday, the lab analyzing the finding said it was not new bacteria that generated the signal, but contamination.

"We found certain specimens, although not many. All of them were contaminants," laboratory head Vladimir Korolyov said in a quote attributed in media reports to the Interfax news agency.