Paleogeneticists, biologists and archaeologists from universities in Sweden and Norway for the first time reconstructed transcriptomes (a set of messenger RNA molecules) of the skin and skeletal muscles of the exterminated thylacine – the Tasmanian wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Study published in the journal Genome Research.

Thylacinus cynocephalus is one of the largest predators that lived in the forests of Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. Representatives of this species disappeared in the first half of the 20th century, as they were hunted due to their passion for feasting on farmers’ livestock. In the 19th century, authorities even paid for the extermination of these animals. However, later, in 1936, realizing the problem of the rapid decline in the population of Tasmanian wolves, the government named them a protected species. But it was too late, since the thylacine that lived in the zoo died, and its relative living in the wild was killed around 1910-1920.

The remains of the Tasmanian wolf were kept for more than 100 years, dried at room temperature, at the Stockholm Natural History Museum. For the RNA extraction experiment, they decided to analyze muscle and three skin samples, each weighing 80 milligrams.

As a result, the researchers were able to identify individual RNAs that encode proteins that are specific to certain tissues and resemble proteins in living marsupials and placental mammals. Scientists were also for the first time able to annotate genes that are characteristic only of the thylacine and contain information about ribosomal RNA and microRNA – molecules involved in the regulation of protein synthesis.

The authors of the work note that identifying genetic information about Tasmanian wolves makes the successful resurrection of an extinct species more likely.

Extinct birds can also be successfully resurrected dodo using Nicobar pigeon DNA.

Anna Morozova