2023-09-26 20:08:54
– For the first time, RNA from an extinct species has been recovered
Researchers have successfully recovered ribonucleic acid from a Tasmanian tiger, a first step towards a possible future resurrection of the species.
Posted today at 10:08 p.m.
Dalen and his team successfully sequenced RNA from a 130-year-old Tasmanian tiger specimen kept by the National Museum of Natural History in Stockholm (illustrative image).
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Scientists have succeeded for the first time in recovering ribonucleic acid (RNA) from an extinct species, Tasmanian tigers, researchers from Stockholm University told AFP on Tuesday.
“Never has the RNA of an extinct species been extracted and sequenced,” Love Dalén, professor of evolutionary genetics who co-led the project, told AFP.
“The ability to recover RNA from extinct species is a first step toward the eventual possibility of resurrecting extinct species,” he added.
Dalen and his team successfully sequenced RNA from a 130-year-old Tasmanian tiger specimen held by the National Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.
They were thus able to reconstitute the RNA from the animal’s muscles and skin.
High quality footage
RNA is a molecule that allows the genetic code to be expressed in each cell and thus gives it instructions for action.
The sequences recovered “were of such quality that it was possible to identify RNAs coding for proteins specific to muscles and skin,” the researchers said in a press release.
“If we want to resurrect an extinct animal, we need to know where the genes are, what they do and in which tissues they are regulated,” explains Dalén.
The last Tasmanian tiger, a carnivorous marsupial, died in captivity in 1936 in Tasmania (southern Australia).
After European colonization of Australia, the animal was declared a pest and a reward offered for each animal killed.
Implication on the study of viruses
The researchers’ findings will have implications for the study of RNA viruses.
“Many pandemics have been caused by RNA viruses, such as the coronavirus recently or the Spanish flu previously,” Dalén said.
“We could look for these viruses in the remains of wild animals preserved in the dried specimens in the museum. This could help us understand the nature and origin of pandemics,” he adds.
For Daniela Kalthoff, in charge of the mammal collection at the Natural History Museum, this opens the way to new research into the “exciting idea” of a resurrection of the Tasmanian tiger.
The researchers also imagine the possibility of extending RNA recovery to other collections in other museums around the world.
“There are millions and millions of dried skins and tissues of insects, mammals and birds in museum collections around the world, and we could recover RNA from all of these specimens,” says Dalén.
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