A trunkload of ancient RNA

Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer; Carles Lalueza-Fox

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2025.12.004

A trunkload of ancient RNA

Cell. 2026 Jan 8;189(1):1-2. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.12.004.

Authors

Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer¹, Carles Lalueza-Fox²

Affiliations

¹ Helmholtz Institute for One Health, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Greifswald, Germany; Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
² Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: carles.lalueza.fox@gmail.com.

PMID: 41512844
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.12.004

Abstract

Ancient DNA has become a workhorse for evolutionary biologists. In contrast, ancient RNA studies have been rare and often methodologically controversial. Mármol-Sánchez et al. provide compelling evidence that aRNA survived up to ca. 50,000 years in permafrost-preserved mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) soft tissues. Will this finally pave the way for paleotranscriptomics?

MeSH terms

Animals
DNA, Ancient* / analysis
Evolution, Molecular
Fossils
Mammoths* / genetics
RNA* / genetics

Substances

RNA
DNA, Ancient