Avocado shoots have been revived into healthy plants after being frozen at incredibly low temperatures, leading to hopes they could be jetted to Mars as a food source.
A team of scientists at Australia's University of Queensland cryopreserved the shoots of different types of avocado plants, warmed them up, and managed to get leaves to grow within two months.
Cryopreserving allows cellular structures to remain intact. It is generally used to freeze sperm and eggs for IVF and egg-freezing treaments at temperatures around -320 degrees Fahrenheit.
The avocado shoots, placed in tin foil inside cryotubes, were stored in liquid nitrogen. The researchers reported an 80 per cent revival success rate with the Reed avocado type.
Professor Neena Mitter, director of the university's Centre for Horticultural Science, said: "I suppose you could say they are space-age avocados – ready to be cryo-frozen and shipped to Mars when human flight becomes possible."
University of Queensland PhD student Chris O'Brien, who developed the first critical steps, said: 'It takes about 20 minutes to recover them.. In about two months they have new leaves and are ready for rooting before beginning a life in the orchard."
He explained: "The aim is to preserve important avocado cultivars and key genetic traits from possible destruction by threats like bushfires, pests and disease such as laurel wilt – a fungus which has the capacity to wipe out all the avocado germplasm in Florida.
"Liquid nitrogen does not require any electricity to maintain its temperature, so by successfully freeze avocado germplasm, it's an effective way of preserving clonal plant material for an indefinite period."
Some wealthy individuals have had their bodies cryogenically frozen after death in the hope of being revived at a later date, when technology has developed further.
So far 2020 has already seen three robotic missions to Mars: Nasa's Perseverance rover, the United Arab Emirates Hope mission, and an ambitious Chinese mission that includes an orbiter, a lander and rover.
Elon Musk has said he wants to send a first cargo mission to the red planet in 2022.
He has said: "The objectives for the first mission will be to confirm water resources, identify hazards and put in place initial power, mining, and life support infrastructure.
The team's original mission was to find a sustainable way to produce the popular stonefruit.
This week it emerged that Britons ate around 1million avocados every single day last year. Trade figures show a consumer spend of around £3.9million on the healthy item.
Prof Mitter has joked that the project will also ensure "we meet the demand of current and future generations for their smashed 'avo' on toast."
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