Scientists Recover World's Oldest RNA From Woolly Mammoths Exceptionally Preserved In Permafrost

Acting like a natural time capsule, permafrost can perfectly preserve the prehistoric remnants of the Ice Age, including species that have fallen into extinction. For the first time, scientists have successfully recovered RNA from incredibly preserved woolly mammoths, offering fresh insights into the biology of these long-lost giants. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

DNA – very, very old DNA – has previously been recovered from woolly mammoths . While DNA provides a genetic blueprint for building an organism, RNA carries copies of specific instructions from DNA to make proteins. In other words, RNA shows which genes were actively being used at a particular time.

“RNA can tell us which genes were ‘turned on’ in a given