BOLZANO, ITALY, June 23 (DC Times Online) — A peer-reviewed study in the journal Microbiome reports that researchers identified four cold-adapted yeast species on Ötzi the Iceman, the 5,300-year-old mummy found in the Alps in 1991, with traces in skin samples, meltwater and stomach contents.
Researchers at Eurac Research said genetic reconstruction suggests the mummy’s remains act as a dynamic biological interface, where ancient glacier-derived microbes and modern contaminants coexist under museum conditions. The team also reported degraded and modern DNA fragments, which it said were consistent with the idea that some microbes may have persisted during long periods of subzero preservation.
The study said the team grew multiple microbe species in the lab and produced four viable ones, with three reportedly able to use phenol, a compound used to prevent fungal growth, as a food source. The researchers also said some microbes may have been introduced during discovery or preservation, leaving the age and activity of individual strains uncertain.
Ötzi’s remains date to around 3300 BC, making him Europe’s oldest known natural human mummy, according to the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, which houses him in a sub-zero vault. The museum says he was naturally preserved in glacier ice and that evidence points to a violent death.
