![Silene stenophylla still grows on the Siberian tundra; and when the researchers compared modern-day plants against their resurrected cousins, they found subtle differences in the shape of petals and the sex of flowers, for reasons that are not evident.
The scientists suggest in their PNAS paper that research of this kind can help in studies of evolution, and shed light on environmental conditions in past millennia.
But perhaps the most enticing suggestion is that it might be possible, using the same techniques, to raise plants that are now extinct - provided that Arctic ground squirrels or some other creatures secreted away the fruit and seeds.
“We’d predict that seeds would stay viable for thousands, possibly tens of thousands of years - I don’t think anyone would expect hundreds of thousands of years,” said Dr Probert.
“[So] there is an opportunity to resurrect flowering plants that have gone extinct in the same way that we talk about bringing mammoths back to life, the Jurassic Park kind of idea.”
(via BBC News - Ancient plants back to life after 30,000 frozen years)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzrb8r5Gqj1qzvsfyo1_500.jpg)
Silene stenophylla still grows on the Siberian tundra; and when the researchers compared modern-day plants against their resurrected cousins, they found subtle differences in the shape of petals and the sex of flowers, for reasons that are not evident.
The scientists suggest in their PNAS paper that research of this kind can help in studies of evolution, and shed light on environmental conditions in past millennia.
But perhaps the most enticing suggestion is that it might be possible, using the same techniques, to raise plants that are now extinct - provided that Arctic ground squirrels or some other creatures secreted away the fruit and seeds.
“We’d predict that seeds would stay viable for thousands, possibly tens of thousands of years - I don’t think anyone would expect hundreds of thousands of years,” said Dr Probert.
“[So] there is an opportunity to resurrect flowering plants that have gone extinct in the same way that we talk about bringing mammoths back to life, the Jurassic Park kind of idea.”
(via BBC News - Ancient plants back to life after 30,000 frozen years)
