Cano R J, Borucki M K
Biological Sciences, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo 93407, USA.
Science. 1995 May 19;268(5213):1060-4. doi: 10.1126/science.7538699.
A bacterial spore was revived, cultured, and identified from the abdominal contents of extinct bees preserved for 25 to 40 million years in buried Dominican amber. Rigorous surface decontamination of the amber and aseptic procedures were used during the recovery of the bacterium. Several lines of evidence indicated that the isolated bacterium was of ancient origin and not an extant contaminant. The characteristic enzymatic, biochemical, and 16S ribosomal DNA profiles indicated that the ancient bacterium is most closely related to extant Bacillus sphaericus.
从保存在多米尼加埋藏琥珀中2500万至4000万年的已灭绝蜜蜂的腹部内容物中复苏、培养并鉴定出一种细菌孢子。在细菌复苏过程中，对琥珀进行了严格的表面去污处理并采用了无菌操作程序。多条证据表明，分离出的细菌起源古老，并非现存的污染物。其独特的酶学、生化和16S核糖体DNA图谱表明，这种古老细菌与现存的球形芽孢杆菌关系最为密切。
