MSU and Michigan Distillery Team Up to Save 146-Year-Old Shipwrecked Rye Seeds

This sounds like the beginning of some kind of joke... but Michigan State University teamed up with a Michigan distillery to rescue nearly 150 year old, shipwrecked rye seeds from the depths of a Michigan lake.

See, I told you it sounds like a joke, but that's actually something that happened.

Michigan State University Helps Rescue Long Shipwrecked Rye Seeds

MSU and Mammoth Distilling worked together to save these 146-year-old rye seeds that we involved in the 1878 shipwreck of wooden schooner James R. Bentley. Since this shipwreck, the seeds have been sitting in the cold depths of Lake Huron.

In September, divers went down to specially retrieve these seeds in the hope of studying them and germinating them.

Shipwrecked Rye Seeds Rescued From Michigan Lake Might Be Cloned

Sadly, the MSU wheat breeding and genetics expert, Eric Olson, was not able to make germination happen, but that's not where things end.

Olson is now working to extract DNA from the seeds, which will allow him to compare them to modern rye varieties, determine its origin, sequence the chromosomes and transfer them into a modern rye variety, essentially reviving this historic rye.

Basically, they are going to pull a Jurassic Park situation with these rye seeds. They will try to extract and replicate the DNA sequence of these seeds to try to clone it and revive the crop. Making our very own Michigan rye whiskey, which would be so cool!

Read Related: Clare, Michigan is Home to One of the Most Haunted Hotels in the U.S.

See pictures of this diving adventure and read more here.

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