Wild About “Harry”
Earliest Known Life Form Opens New Avenues for Research

In October 2000, Nature,a prestigious international journal of science,published the results of an unprecedented discovery by West Chester biologist Russell Vreeland and two co-investigators. Vreeland’s team had found a dormant 250-million-year-old bacterium and essentially returned it to life. It is currently considered the oldest known living life form on Earth.

The ancient bacterium, identified as Bacillus species, designated 2-9-3, and part of the species Bacillus marismortui and Virgibacillus pantothenticus, isnicknamed “Harry.”

Today, Harry’s existence profoundly influences ancient biomaterials research for students and scientists at West Chester as well as other universities and institutions around the world.

“There were claims of finding ancient life on Earth for many, many years but most were beaten down for technical reasons,” notes Vreeland, professor of biology and director of the University’s Ancient Biomaterials Institute. “When we started doing this work we took extreme care. We were able to document that the probability of a contamination event is one chance in one billion.”

Anthony Nicastro, chair of the physics department, worked with Vreeland after the research was published to help demonstrate that chances of contamination were extremely remote. Eventually plans were made to establish a research facility that could significantly impact all of the sciences at the University.

“We started thinking. What would it take to analyze ancient biomaterials?” recalls Nicastro. “What instrumentation, what capabilities and faculty would we need to do this? Students get experience by engaging in these research projects. This provides a large set of opportunities for our students to conduct cutting edge research.”

The National Science Foundation recently provided funding to the University for a state-of-the-art research facility for the Ancient Biomaterials Institute. The new Molecular Biology Laboratory features high-tech equipment that extracts samples from ancient biomaterials under pristine sterile conditions to avoid contamination or any other compromises.

In 2007, Vreeland’s team published another paper on the second-oldest known living organism, a 125-million-year-old microbe isolated from salt rock in Brazil.

The Institute’s national reputation for its unique research is growing, and so are interested students who want experience with this sophisticated, one-of-a-kind laboratory.

“It has become so popular among our students that we’ve had to create a series of competency levels,” says Vreeland. Students undergo a few months of extensive, comprehensive briefings on safety regulations, particularly handling radioactive, chemical or microbe materials. They are then given competency tests in physics, biology and other sciences.

“Passing competency exams is a whole lot different from classroom tests. You have to acquire certain skills to pass,” he explains. “Students also have to do primary library research, turn in their records, produce lab notes. They must learn to keep records and do functions. Each level is more exacting and more intense.” Some qualify for field trips to New Mexico and other locations to go underground to obtain samples for research.

Nicastro adds that their laboratory work is more formal. “In the big picture, this experience makes them a more marketable person” to employers or graduate schools.

Since the 2000 article, scientists and researchers everywhere are taking a different look at fossils for ancient biomaterials. Prior to this, the assumption was that stone and minerals replaced tissue. Recent examples include soft tissue found in a thigh-bone of a T-Rex fossil at North Carolina State University and DNA sequenced from a woolly mammoth fossil at Penn State University.

“People did not think to look for ancient biomaterials in fossils. Scientists did not have the technical ability to eliminate for potential contamination,” notes Vreeland.

Before Harry, the oldest known living bacterium was found in an extinct bee trapped in amber dated 25 to 30 million years old. Harry was excavated from 2,000 feet underground at a salt mineshaft in Carlsbad, N.M. Samples were taken from a rock in the Permian Salado Formation that was previously documented to be at least 250 million years old. The microbe was trapped in a salt crystal and suspended in a miniscule amount of ancient seawater before it was revived and started growing. While endeavoring to reanimate the microbe, the researchers worked meticulously to prevent any possibility of contamination that could potentially negate their findings.

News about this astounding discovery immediately circled the globe, Vreeland recalls. “We did more than 600 radio, television and print interviews” with major news organizations throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.

It was a simple question from a student that influenced his work in ancient biomaterials. “I started in this field because in 1985, a student asked me how long I thought an organism could survive once it got trapped in salt. At that time, we just had anecdotal answers.”

Harry may have provided more answers to that student’s specific question but the everlasting bacterium also raises more interesting questions which students and researchers at the Ancient Biomaterials Institute may someday answer.

Russell Vreeland, who joined the University biology faculty in 1989, attended the May 31 opening of an exhibit of his work at the Kansas Underground Salt Museum in Hutchinson, Kan. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s of science from Rutgers University and his doctorate from the University of Nebraska. West Chester University’s Council of Trustees presented him with their award for achievement in 2001.