"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.
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.RNA is a molecule that is used to convey information from the genome to the rest of the cell about what it should do. The last known living Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial, died in captivity in 1936 at the Beaumaris Zoo in Tasmania.
Scientists have focused their de-extinction efforts on the Tasmanian tiger as its natural habitat in Tasmania is largely preserved.Daniela Kalthoff, in charge of the mammal collection at the Museum of Natural History, said the idea of possibly resurrecting the Tasmanian tiger was an "exciting idea".