Associated Press
Cellulose dating back 253 million years, along with some possible ancient DNA, has been found in salt crystals from an underground nuclear waste dump in southern New Mexico.
"We did see some ancient DNA in the salt, but not a lot, and we have to continue experiments to try to verify that it is ancient DNA," said Jack D. Griffith, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Cellulose is an organic compound that is the main structural component in the cell walls of green plants and algae.
The compound was discovered in water locked in tiny cubes of clear and reddish-brown salt crystals at the federal government's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad.
The crystals were taken from newly mined areas 2,000 feet (610 meters) below WIPP's desert surface last fall and a couple of years ago, Griffith said last week.
"We found one in a wall that was a couple of feet across, almost looking like into a huge frozen block of ice," he said.
"The others were found in crystal that is smaller and finer and in jumbles with sulfur or clay deposits."
Griffith said looking for cellulose in salt deposits could offer insight into the search for life on other planets, because the hardy compound would be a good target for signs of ancient organisms.
(Related: "Hundreds of Salt Deposits Spotted on Mars" [March 20, 2008].)
He and colleagues present their findings in the April issue of the journal Astrobiology.
Not Fossilized
Griffith's team used a tiny drill about the width of a cat's whisker to bore into the water-bearing cubes and retrieve drops of water.
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