Russian scientists have found a new kind of bacterial life that has been surviving in a lake hidden for millions of years under Antarctic ice.
A group of Russian scientists came across a new form of bacteria in a lake that has been buried under Antarctic ice for millions of years in February. The newly found bacterial life, which is yet to be named was extracted from Lake Vostok, the largest sub glacial among 400 known lakes in the Antarctic continent.
Lake Vostok is located at the southern Pole of Cold, beneath Russia's Vostok Station under the surface of the central East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is at 3,488 m (11,444 ft) above mean sea level.
Since 2012, a team of scientists have drilled thought 4 km of ice to finally come across the lake and were able to collect seven samples of this unidentified organism. The samples were extracted from the frozen water in the lake.
"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," mentioned Sergei Bulat of the genetics laboratory at the St Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics."If it were found on Mars, people would call it Martian DNA. But this is DNA from Earth."
The match between its DNA and any known organisms never exceeded 86 percent, while a match of under 90 percent is already enough to indicate a new species, Bulat said. Further tests of the new bacterial species are scheduled to be conducted but scientists are waiting for more samples of the bacteria.
