{"id":1891,"date":"2026-07-23T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/23\/dormant-microbes-from-otzi-the-icemans-body-can-grow-in-the-lab\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T10:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T10:30:00","slug":"dormant-microbes-from-otzi-the-icemans-body-can-grow-in-the-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/23\/dormant-microbes-from-otzi-the-icemans-body-can-grow-in-the-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Dormant microbes from \u00d6tzi the Iceman\u2019s body can grow in the lab"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For a long time, scientists considered \u00d6tzi the Iceman a messenger from the Copper Age. But new research shows this frozen mummy wasn\u2019t alone. He hosts small companions \u2014 dormant, <a href=\"http:\/\/nlcontent.springernature.com\/redirect\/TIDP5102690X9FC2F38CDCBC467FB75D4446E21FD11BYI4\/64D72CD7-1AA6-4D4C-BC53-DD832D68E56E\" rel=\"noopener\">cold-adapted yeasts<\/a>. In other words, his remains might not be as frozen in time as researchers once thought.<\/p>\n<p>Since \u00d6tzi\u2019s discovery in the Italian Alps in 1991, his body has been housed in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iceman.it\/en\" rel=\"noopener\">specialized facility in Bolzano, Italy<\/a>. Scientists there held his remains at \u20136\u00b0 Celsius (21.2\u00b0 Fahrenheit). This has been to keep his body from degrading. It\u2019s a temp close to that of the glacier in which he\u2019d been found.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-sciencenews-inline-related-post alignleft\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/lets-learn-about-mummies\">Let\u2019s learn about mummies<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Four ancient species of yeast have now been found in his remains. And they\u2019re still able to grow in the lab, reports Albert Zink. His team isolated \u201cancient DNA from these species,\u201d he notes. An anthropologist, until recently, he worked at the Eurac research center in Bolzano, Italy. (He\u2019s now at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, in Germany.)<\/p>\n<p>Those DNA show the yeast \u201caccompanied [\u00d6tzi] over thousands of years while he was preserved in the ice,\u201d Zink says.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists suspect <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/09596836221126133\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00d6tzi thawed and refroze<\/a> several times \u2014 especially in the first 1,500 years after his death. That could help explain why his remains still <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/scientists-say-microbiome\">host microbes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Zink\u2019s team shared its results on June 3 in <em>Microbiome<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>.cheat-sheet-cta {<br \/>\n  border: 1px solid #ffffff;<br \/>\n  margin-top: 20px;<br \/>\n  background-image: url(&#8220;https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/cta-module@2x-2048&#215;239-1.png&#8221;);<br \/>\n  padding: 10px;<br \/>\n  clear: both;<br \/>\n}<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group cheat-sheet-cta is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Do you have a science question? We can help!<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/YbhPosFTMqjbSNnV7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Submit your question here<\/a>, and we might answer it an upcoming issue of&nbsp;<em>Science News Explores<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frozen in time?<\/h2>\n<p>Researchers thawed \u00d6tzi&#8217;s body to 4 \u00b0C (39.2 \u00b0F) for five hours. Then, they collected the liquid that melted off his remains. They also swabbed parts of \u00d6tzi&#8217;s body and took samples of his skin and other tissues.<\/p>\n<p>Four colonies of yeast grew from these samples. Scientists compared these yeasts to those in soil near the glacier where \u00d6tzi was found. They also checked air and the water that the museum had used to keep the mummy\u2019s chamber humid.<\/p>\n<p>These tests showed those four yeast species really came from the mummy. They were effectively time capsules of \u00d6tzi&#8217;s time in the ice after his death. Bacteria were also extracted from internal tissues. None of these grew in the lab.<\/p>\n<p>The new findings suggest the iceman\u2019s remains seem to still be interacting with the environment.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"453\" src=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/060226_TM_Otzi_inline.jpg\" alt=\"A petri dish of microbes grown from Otzi\" class=\"wp-image-238634\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-238634\">Scientists grew colonies (shown) from four species of yeast found on the mummy\u2019s body.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-238634\">Eurac Research\/Andrea De Giovanni<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Risks to the mummy<\/h2>\n<p>Those microbes could pose a problem. If they don\u2019t stay dormant, they could end up decomposing the mummy.<\/p>\n<p>This conclusion is \u201cright on the mark,\u201d says Patrick Hunt. He\u2019s an alpine archaeologist at Stanford University in California who did not take part in the new study.<\/p>\n<p>\u00d6tzi is \u201cthe most important archaeological-science finding of the 20th century,\u201d Hunt says.<\/p>\n<p>\u00d6tzi\u2019s mummy has offered an incredible window into the man&#8217;s former life. From many studies, scientists know he wore leather clothes, had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/how-otzi-iceman-mummy-got-tattoos\">multiple tattoos<\/a> and would have likely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/new-otzi-iceman-dna-ancestry-genome-appearance\">gone bald<\/a>. Past work even shows he ate a high-fat meal before he died and carried an ax made of copper derived from far away.<\/p>\n<p>More such discoveries may emerge only if \u00d6tzi\u2019s body remains preserved. That requires getting to know the cold-loving and potentially damaging microbes on his body. It also makes the new findings essential, Hunt says. They\u2019ll help scientists preserve this iceman for the ages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"bkbc-source\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Science News Explores<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For a long time, scientists considered \u00d6tzi the Iceman a messenger from the Copper Age. But new research shows this frozen mummy wasn\u2019t alone. He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[321],"class_list":["post-1891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-science-news-explores"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bkbc.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}