130-year-old sample analyzed using RNA isolation: Tasmanian tiger can be brought back to life

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Swedish researchers have succeeded for the first time in isolating and sequencing the RNA of an extinct species. The genetic information of the Tasmanian tiger, which has been extinct since 1936, provides new insights into the animal’s cells and muscles. This could potentially bring the species back to life. First, the “Frankfurter Rundschau” reported on the research results.

The Tasmanian tiger was a carnivorous marsupial that was once native to Australia, especially the island of Tasmania that gave it its name. As a result of colonization, the species became extinct; the animal was a plague to the Europeans and they killed it on a large scale. The last known living specimen of the Tasmanian tiger died in 1936 in a zoo in Hobart, Tasmania.

Researchers have long been trying to revive extinct species such as the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger. The Tasmanian tiger’s genome was decoded five years ago. The isolated RNA molecules now form a new, important piece of the puzzle: to ‘revive’ an extinct species, RNA is needed in addition to DNA as a carrier of genetic information. Because: RNA translates the information stored in DNA. Until now, however, scientists assumed that RNA would be destroyed within a few days if it was not kept in a cool place and protected by enzymes.

“Only now coming to light”

“Resuscitating a Tasmanian tiger or a woolly mammoth is not a trivial task,” says Emilio Marmol-Sanchez of Stockholm University. It requires extensive knowledge of genome and transcriptome regulation. In a statement, he described the new findings as something that is “only now coming to light.”

The sample the researchers in Stockholm examined came from the remains of an embalmed, dehydrated Tasmanian tiger. The mounted specimen has been in the Stockholm Natural History Museum since 1891. The researchers managed to isolate millions of RNA sequences. Using the research results, the scientists reconstructed new information about the animal’s skin and muscles, but also about the proteins produced in the animal’s tissue.

Insights can promote conclusions about other species

Because the Tasmanian tiger has only recently become extinct and its natural habitat is still largely preserved, its regeneration could restore balance to the ecosystem.

Marmol-Sanchez and his team see a different purpose in the new findings. The study not only opens up deeper knowledge about the genetics of the Tasmanian tiger, but also new possibilities for research into the remains of other species. “In the future, we may be able to extract not only RNA from extinct animals, but also RNA virus genomes such as Sars-CoV-2 and their evolutionary precursors from the skin of bats,” the university says. (An)

Source: Blick