Scientists Believe 60,000-Year-Old Underwater Forest May Yield New Life-saving Medications

(Illustration - Shutterstock)

Scientists believe that a 60,000-year-old underwater forest near the Gulf of Mexico may harbor vital components for the development of new life-saving pharmaceuticals. A species of organism found living in the preserved underwater wood is being investigated.

According to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the submerged forest comprises a large quantity of 60,000-year-old cypress trees that fell into a river and were then buried under heavy sediment.

For tens of thousands of years, the forest lay undisturbed. Sea levels eventually rose and covered the trees, preserving and concealing them, until Hurricane Ivan hit the Gulf Coast in 2004 and uncovered the forest.

The hurricane’s 140-mile-per-hour winds disturbed the sediment that had kept the fallen cypress forest covered for so many millennia. As of 2020, the underwater forest, larger and older than others of its kind, lies approximately 60 feet beneath the surface of Mobile Bay off the Alabama coastline.

According to CNN, in early December 2019, a team of researchers from Northeastern University and the University of Utah, sponsored by the NOAA, conducted a dive from Research Vessel E.O. Wilson down to the submerged forest. They retrieved samples of the preserved cypress wood for study.

Professor Brian Helmuth of Northeastern University described the murky expedition as “like diving in chocolate milk.”

“It was really amazing,” Helmuth continued. “We dove around the edge of this ancient river bed. On our left were these remains of giant stumps and pristine wood coming out of the embankment ... it was almost an eerie feeling of stepping back in time.”

CNN shared footage from the dive on social media on April 7, 2020.

The extraordinarily well-preserved 60,000-year-old wood samples that the dive team collected were taken back to Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory, where testing unearthed a monumental discovery: among other organisms, the team discovered shipworms living within the preserved cypress wood, producing 100 separate strains of bacteria.

As reported by the NOAA, over 300 species of organisms were removed from the preserved wood, but the shipworms—a type of mollusc that transforms wood into animal tissue—were the stars of the show. It was speculated that the biomolecules they produce in the digestion of the cypress wood could contain vital compounds in the development of new medicines.

Twelve novel strains of biomolecules were sent for DNA sequencing. Scientists speculated that they may carry the potential to pioneer novel, potentially life-saving treatments for deadly infections, chronic pain, and even cancer.

Previous research on the bacterial content of shipworm biomolecules by the same team led to at least one antibiotic being investigated as a possible treatment for parasitic infections.

According to Francis Choi, a senior lab manager at Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center, the research team will be employing unmanned underwater robots to capture images of the forest to share with the world, reports Fox 8. According to Yahoo, the team intends to resume field work in August 2020 and continue through December.

Margo Haygood, a research professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Utah, explained to The New York Times that any potential pharmaceutical components found in the shipworm bacteria have already undergone millions of years of “pre-screening” in the bodies of their hosts. As such, they are likely to be less toxic to humans than artificial pharmaceuticals.

Haygood predicted that the research team would be able to publish their findings, and thus conclude whether some of the future life-saving pharmaceuticals have shipworms to thank for their existence, by April 2021.