- Scientists found ancient RNA in the 40,000-year-old frozen mammoth Yuka's body
- RNA is fragile and usually breaks down soon after death, making this discovery rare
- This is the oldest RNA ever found and the first from a woolly mammoth species
Scientists have made a rare and surprising discovery inside the frozen body of a young woolly mammoth. The animal, known as "Yuka," was found near Siberia's Arctic coast in 2010 and had been preserved in ice for almost 40,000 years. Researchers now say that Yuka's body holds traces of ancient RNA, delicate genetic molecules that normally break down soon after death. This discovery offers a new way to understand prehistoric life, reported National Geographic.
Scientists recently reported that Yuka's tissues contained another rare treasure such as remains of ribonucleic acid (RNA), and the genetic molecules essential to life.
Normally RNA is destroyed soon after death, so this is considered to be the oldest RNA discovered so far and it has been obtained for the first time from the woolly mammoth. This study has been published in Cell journal.
Scientists have been studying DNA fragments from mammoth specimens for decades, and with the help of this genetic information, they have created the genome of this species and discovered how close mammoths are to modern elephants. But RNA has been difficult to find because it is less stable than DNA.
Like DNA, RNA is single-stranded and plays an important role in activating genes and making proteins.
RNA is also important in the study of viruses, such as influenza and coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Love Co-author Love Dalen, a developmental genomics researcher at Stockholm University said that with the help of ancient RNA, signs of Ice Age viruses present with ancient animals trapped in ice can be discovered. RNA viruses were not found in yuca, but traces of ancient pathogens may be found in other prehistoric samples.
Scientists previously believed that RNA decays so quickly that it cannot survive for more than a few centuries, much less thousands of years. Recent studies have challenged this belief. In 2023, Dalen's team obtained RNA from the skin and muscle of a Tasmanian tiger specimen that had been kept in a museum for more than 130 years. In 2017 researchers extracted RNA from the stomach tissue of a 5,300-year-old ice mummy.
To search for even older RNA, Pour and his team focused on the permafrost regions of Siberia, where thawing soil has yielded many amazing discoveries. In addition to mammoth specimens like Yuka, researchers have also found skin and muscle tissue from mummified saber-tooth cat cubs and other frozen animals.
These discoveries suggest that permanent ice may hold even more secrets of prehistoric life, including ancient gene activation and possibly even long-lost viruses.
