Oldest sequenced RNA reveals details about a mammoth’s final moments 40,000 years
Scientists have recovered ancient molecules of RNA from a juvenile mammoth named Yuka, who died 40,000 years ago in what is now Siberia. These biological remnants are providing insight into the last moments of the extinct ice age creature’s life.
The RNA was extracted from mummified leg tissue that had been extremely well-preserved for millennia in permafrost. It is the oldest RNA to be sequenced by scientists. Now, researchers are using it to reveal which of the mammoth’s genes were active at the time of its death.
“All the cells in an organism, they have the same DNA, a brain cell or a liver cell or muscle cell. So what makes these cells different from each other is essentially the RNA,” said Love Dalén, a professor of evolutionary genomics at the Centre for Palaeogenetics at Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History and senior author of the study that published Friday in the scientific journal Cell . “It’s about how which genes are turned on and turned off in different cell types.”
DNA and RNA are found in all living things. DNA is the hard code for life, while RNA reads those genetic instructions and acts as a messenger to help a cell build proteins.
Ancient DNA can last for more than 1 million years and has revolutionized scientists’ understanding of the past.
RNA, however, until recently was thought to be ephemeral, and it’s not yet clear whether the researchers’ novel techniques will work on specimens that are not as exceptionally preserved.
