RNA recovered from extinct animal in world first

Published September 27, 2023
DANIELLA Kalthoff, in charge of mammal collection at the Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, examines a dry specimen of a Tasmanian tiger.—AFP
DANIELLA Kalthoff, in charge of mammal collection at the Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, examines a dry specimen of a Tasmanian tiger.—AFP

STOCKHOLM: Scientists have for the first time recovered RNA from an extinct species, the Tasmanian tiger, raising hope for the resurrection of animals once thought lost forever, Stockholm University researchers said.

“RNA has never been extracted and sequenced from an extinct species before,” said Love Dalen, a Stockholm University professor of evolutionary genomics who co-led the project.

“The ability to recover RNA from extinct species constitutes a small step (toward) maybe being able to resurrect extinct species in the future,” he said.

Dalen and his team were able to sequence RNA molecules from a 130-year-old Tasmanian tiger specimen preserved at room temperature in Sweden’s Museum of Natural History.

With this they were able to reconstruct skin and skeletal muscle RNA.

RNA is a molecule that is used to convey information from the genome to the rest of the cell about what it should do.

“If you’re going to resurrect an extinct animal, then you need to know where the genes are and what they do, and in what tissues they are regulated,” Dalen said, explaining the need for knowledge about both DNA and RNA.

The last known living Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial, died in captivity in 1936 at the Beaumaris Zoo in Tasmania.

After European colonisation of Australia, the animal was declared a pest and in 1888 a bounty was offered for each full-grown animal killed. Scientists have focused their de-extinction efforts on the Tasmanian tiger as its natural habitat in Tasmania is largely preserved.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2023

Editorial

Shocking ambush
13 Mar, 2025

Shocking ambush

THE chilling ambush of the Jaffar Express on Tuesday by terrorists is a rude wake-up call, reminding us of the...
Suffocating crisis
13 Mar, 2025

Suffocating crisis

THREE of the five countries with the most polluted air on Earth are in South Asia. They include Pakistan, which has...
Captive grid
13 Mar, 2025

Captive grid

IT is a common practice: the government makes commitments with global lenders for their money and then tries to...
State Bank’s caution
Updated 12 Mar, 2025

State Bank’s caution

Easing monetary policy will be difficult for SBP without large, sustainable foreign capital inflows and structural tax reforms.
Syria massacre
12 Mar, 2025

Syria massacre

THERE were valid fears of sectarian and religious bloodshed when anti-Assad militants triumphantly marched into...
Too little, too late
12 Mar, 2025

Too little, too late

WHEN desperation reaches a point that a father has to end his life to save his daughter’s, the state has failed ...