The greatest treasure of all in the SS Central America shipwreck off the South Carolina coast might not be gold bars and coins worth millions of dollars.

The greatest treasure of all in the SS Central America shipwreck off the South Carolina coast might not be gold bars and coins worth millions of dollars.

Microscopic organisms in the sediment below the wreck might reap a different kind of treasure � one that could save lives.

That�s the hope of research scientist Michael Lawman, whose Tampa biotech company Morphogenesis is sifting through the sediment in hopes of finding microorganisms that could one day help treat cancer and other diseases.

Lawman is one of several scientists who used last summer�s probe of the 19th century shipwreck by Odyssey Marine Exploration to obtain samples from the deep ocean floor. As is the case with many scientists, Lawman can�t afford a ship and equipment to dig up sediment, so he relies on expeditions such as Odyssey�s.

�It�s a different kind of treasure than Odyssey usually looks for,� Lawman said. �Our interest is in the microorganisms in the ocean and in the seabed itself.

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�We want to isolate those bacteria and see the processes they have to (help them) live in a very harsh environment.�

Morphogenesis researchers will analyze the sediment and try to grow colonies of the bacteria that inhabit it. If the colonies appear to be new bacteria, �We�ll chase it to see what allows it to live at 7,000 feet� in the ocean, Lawman said.

From there, they�ll work to determine whether the bacteria could have medicinal uses.

The company already has found organisms from shallower ocean sediment with properties that could target cancer and infectious diseases. The SS Central America sediment is the deepest they�ve obtained.

The potential, Lawman said, is huge.

�There used to be a lot of antibiotics in the pipeline, but it�s very expensive to look for new antibiotics,� he said.

That has significantly reduced the number being tested. At the same time, some bacteria are becoming resistant to current antibiotics, creating a real need to find new ones, he said.

Another scientist benefitting from dives to the Central America shipwreck is Estefania Rodriguez, who studies sea-anemone diversity in the deep sea. Odyssey provided her with several specimens found during its work on the shipwreck this past summer. At least one anemone � a type ofParactinostola � might be a new species.

Rodriguez, assistant curator for invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said she hopes to better understand the diversity and evolution of sea anemones and how the creatures adapt and survive in the cold, dark, deep ocean.

That knowledge could help scientists better understand the history of Earth and how life has adapted, Rodriguez said.

Another scientist, Timothy M. Shank of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, received several species of coral from dives at the shipwreck and expects to have some preliminary findings in a few months.

�They are really an important part of the ecosystem on our planet,� Shank said. �They�re important to understand a major ocean ecosystem.�

He said the coral itself and other information collected from the Central America could help scientists better understand the growth rates of coral.

�We know when the (ship) went down, so we can use the wreck as a calibrator of the age of the coral,� Shank said. �It�s a rare opportunity.�

He said he�ll first look at the DNA of the coral colonies and determine whether it is different from coral in other parts of the ocean. He�ll also review videotape of the coral on the shipwreck to get additional size estimates.

Coral, he said, serves as habitat for many other species, making its loss to pollution and fishing a concern for scientists.

�If we lose these corals, we lose the life cycle of some fish,� Shank said.

Overseeing the shipwreck samples is Bob Evans, chief scientist for Recovery Limited Partnership, the Columbus-based company that hired Odyssey this past spring to salvage treasure from the shipwreck.

Evans was involved in the original, successful search for the Central America in the late 1980s. That group pulled up gold, silver, artifacts and sea creatures, but was derailed by decades of lawsuits and management problems.

The new effort is led by Ira Owen Kane, the court-appointed receiver for Recovery Limited.

�This natural environment is so unknown,� Evans said. �The prime purpose of the expedition is the recovery of treasure, but in the course of that, we shouldn�t ignore the opportunity for this huge scientific opportunity.�

Odyssey uses a remotely operated vehicle called Zeus, which is lowered into the ocean from the ship and collects gold, artifacts and marine samples.

Zeus sucks animals and sediment with a vacuum attachment. Samples are placed in containers that are returned to the surface, where they are catalogued and preserved.

This past summer, Evans observed the results of an experiment he had left at the shipwreck site in 1990 � 3-foot-long blocks of wood, some pine and others oak.

The idea was to determine how quickly the wood � the same kind used to build the Central America � would disintegrate. �I thought the wood would have maybe a 50-year life,� Evans said.

Instead, when Zeus pulled up the 4-inch-by-4-inch blocks, only a few inches remained.

A type of clam apparently had burrowed into the wood. None of the creatures remained, however, much to Evans� disappointment.

kgray@dispatch.com

@reporterkathy