World’s oldest RNA extracted from ice age woolly mammoth

Sequencing an ancient creature’s RNA opens up a new window into extinct life.

See full article...

 

[DOOManiac]

One step closer to woolly mammoth steaks!

 

[de.in.sf]

Extinction, by Douglas Preston was a pretty good read.

 

[Reaperman2]

At some point in the semi-distant future, we'll be able to print and edit DNA in order to create whatever creatures we choose. This is a minor plot point in Arthur C. Clarke's 3001: The Final Oddyssey, where flying dragons exist because humans created them.

 

[equine_physics]

I smell clone coming soon, but not till they find the right Island to hold them...you know...for study ;-)

 

[atmartens]

Very cool work, but also scary that this work is made possible by thawing of the no-longer-perma frost.

 

[Ecnhoffer]

We learn and continue to learn when scientists pursue science! One never knows what will come out of discovery, which should be supported by government for all mankind!

 

[Fred Duck]

One one hand, Yuka looks terrifying.

On the other, I doubt I'll look that good when if I reach 40,000.

 

[norton_I]

What I'm hearing is that Jurassic park is actually possible, and all those molecular biologists were just sandbagging for the last 30 years.

 

[LDA 6502]

I smell clone coming soon, but not till they find the right Island to hold them...you know...for study ;-)

At least for wolly mammoth, perhaps the best place to rewild them would be the Uvs Lake Basin, which is a steppe-tundra biome located near the Mongolia-Russia border.

E: which is one of the last remaining areas on Earth that resembles the native habitat of the mammoth.

 

[ibad]

I wonder if it will one day be possible to reconstruct an unbiased mammoth genome from scratch, without using an Asian Elephant genome as a template, which might bias it. Also, what about the mitochondrial genome? It would be great to get as complete a picture as possible, even if we can't currently translate a gene sequence into a true clone.

 

[raxadian]

The most insane thing is that save for the shutdown being over already it feels like this somewhat relevant comic could have been made recently.

https://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/i-assume-it-takes-a-long-time-to-eat-a-mammoth

 

[richten]

...said Emilio Mármol...

I can't get over the name, marmol is marble in Spanish, and Barney Rubble in the Flinstones was called Pablo Mármol. Someone studying mammoths that is named almost like a character in the Flintstones, he has to have heard that a lol

 

[Ianal]

What I'm hearing is that Jurassic park is actually possible, and all those molecular biologists were just sandbagging for the last 30 years.

Sandbagging? That was the failed experiment that was never supposed to be dug up again. PaleoDNA, paleoRNA, and evidence of gene expression from a Y chromosome from an apparently female animal? Time to run a BLAST alignment against frog DNA, I reckon.

And, predictable Jurassic Park nerdery aside, recovering paleoRNA is seriously cool for all the reasons mentioned in the article. Wonder if they found any non-coding RNAs?

 

[mdrejhon]

Their scientific séance allowed them to explore information that had never been accessible before, including which genes were active when Yuka died. In the creature’s final panicked moments, its muscles were tensing and its cells were signaling distress—perhaps unsurprising since Yuka is thought to have died as a result of a cave lion attack.

Wow. That's some deep CSI.

 

[End_of_Eternity]

At some point in the semi-distant future, we'll be able to print and edit DNA in order to create whatever creatures we choose. This is a minor plot point in Arthur C. Clarke's 3001: The Final Oddyssey, where flying dragons exist because humans created them.

I don't remember flying dragons in 3001, although it's been over 20 years since I read.

I don't doubt you, I am just surprised I don't remember this.

 

[Torbjörn Larsson OM]

While Yuka was the best preserved, the other two out of the 10 sequenced that gave reliable yields were older (estimated ~45 kyrs vs ~40 kyrs old for Yuka).

With our findings, we anticipate the emergence of integrative paleo-studies combining genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics.

Also, what about the mitochondrial genome? It would be great to get as complete a picture as possible, even if we can't currently translate a gene sequence into a true clone.

Browsing the paper, mitochondrial RNA was found and used to inform on protein expression and dating at the very least.

Wonder if they found any non-coding RNAs?

Again, a quick check says they did:

A total of 342 protein-coding mRNAs and 902 noncoding RNAs were detected with breadth of coverage ≥ 5% in Yuka’s aRNA sequencing data ...

We have also confidently identified fragmentary but reliable evidence of over 300 protein-coding mRNAs and around 60 different microRNAs in woolly mammoth skeletal muscle.

With regard to the noncoding fraction of the transcriptome, excluding microRNAs, highly abundant rRNAs and tRNA transcripts were detected, jointly with U1 and U2 spliceosomal snRNAs, which are components of the spliceosome complex responsible for mRNA maturation66 (Figure 5B; Table S5, #5).

it feels like this somewhat relevant comic could have been made recently.

https://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/i-assume-it-takes-a-long-time-to-eat-a-mammoth

 

[RZetopan]

One step closer to woolly mammoth steaks!

The stakes are very mixed on that ever happening.

 

[RZetopan]

At least for wolly mammoth, perhaps the best place to rewild them would be the Uvs Lake Basin, which is a steppe-tundra biome located near the Mongolia-Russia border.

E: which is one of the last remaining areas on Earth that resembles the native habitat of the mammoth.

And that site should even be better for the ones that are actually woolly!

 

[RZetopan]

I wonder if it will one day be possible to reconstruct an unbiased mammoth genome from scratch, without using an Asian Elephant genome as a template, which might bias it. Also, what about the mitochondrial genome? It would be great to get as complete a picture as possible, even if we can't currently translate a gene sequence into a true clone.

Just having the DNA is insufficient, the entire environment for the DNA also matters.