Messages Across Millennia: Recovering Ancient RNA from the Woolly Mammoth
- 演化之聲
- Mar 14
- 5 min read
Deep within the frozen ground of Siberian permafrost, traces of life have endured far longer than once imagined. Among the molecular remnants preserved in ancient remains, DNA has long served as the primary window through which scientists investigate the genetics of extinct organisms from the Cenozoic era. RNA, however, tells a different story. This molecule is far more fragile and typically breaks down rapidly after death, making it widely regarded as an unlikely survivor across geological time. Yet an investigation involving ten Late Pleistocene woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) has opened an unexpected new chapter in the study of ancient biomolecules. Researchers succeeded in extracting RNA from frozen mammoth tissues preserved in permafrost, primarily from muscle and skin. Most remarkably, one individual—known as Yuka, a juvenile mammoth that lived roughly 39,000 years ago—yielded RNA fragments detailed enough to reconstruct patterns of gene expression within its cells. This discovery represents the oldest known record of ancient RNA carrying biologically meaningful information.
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