Overview
- Published November 14 in Cell, a Stockholm University–led team isolated and sequenced the oldest known RNA from permafrost-preserved woolly mammoth tissues.
- Screening of skin and muscle from 10 mammoths found detectable ancient RNA in three specimens, with the juvenile Yuka (~39–40 thousand years old) providing the highest-quality data.
- Yuka’s tissues yielded 342 messenger RNAs and 902 noncoding RNAs, including two previously unknown microRNA genes, indicating tissue-specific expression and signs of cellular stress.
- MicroRNA patterns with rare mutations authenticated the mammoth origin, and RNA plus DNA evidence identified a Y chromosome in Yuka, revising the specimen’s sex to male.
- Researchers caution that preservation is uncommon and fragments are short, yet the approach could enable integrated RNA–DNA–protein studies of extinct species and potentially recover ancient RNA viruses.