ArticlePLoS biology2019
Ancient RNA from Late Pleistocene permafrost and historical canids shows tissue-specific transcriptome survival.
Article in PLoS biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Herbaria provide a valuable resource for obtaining informative mRNA.Genome research · 2026Article
- RNAScope-Ancestry: A Cross-Modality Framework for Inferring Genetic Ancestry from RNA-Seq with Application to MECA.Research square · 2026Article
- Recovery of an 18bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Extending the temporal window of arbovirus evolutionary analysis through the recovery of a century-old bandavirus.Virus evolution · 2026Article
- Optimizing ancient DNA recovery from archaeological plant seeds.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- An ancient influenza genome from Switzerland allows deeper insights into host adaptation during the 1918 flu pandemic in Europe.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Functional Insights Into the Effect of Feralisation on the Gut Microbiota of Cats Worldwide.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Review
- Impact of commercial RNA extraction methods on the recovery of human RNA sequence data from archival fixed tissues.BioTechniques · 2025Article
- Investigating food production-associated DNA methylation changes in paleogenomes: Lack of consistent signals beyond technical noise.Evolutionary applications · 2024Article
- How ancient RNA survives and what we can learn from it.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2024Article
- Historical RNA expression profiles from the extinct Tasmanian tiger.Genome research · 2023Article
- Bioarchaeological and paleogenomic profiling of the unusual Neolithic burial from Grotta di Pietra Sant'Angelo (Calabria, Italy).Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A Timeframe for SARS-CoV-2 Genomes: A Proof of Concept for Postmortem Interval Estimations.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Historic and Prehistoric Epidemics: An Overview of Sources Available for the Study of Ancient Pathogens.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Genomics of Ancient Pathogens: First Advances and Prospects.Biochemistry. Biokhimiia · 2022Review
- Review
- Integrating multi-taxon palaeogenomes and sedimentary ancient DNA to study past ecosystem dynamics.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Review
- Multi-omic detection ofPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
- The Recovery, Interpretation and Use of Ancient Pathogen Genomes.Current biology : CB · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
While sequencing ancient DNA (aDNA) from archaeological material is now commonplace, very few attempts to sequence ancient transcriptomes have been made, even from typically stable deposition environments such as permafrost. This is presumably due to assumptions that RNA completely degrades relatively quickly, particularly when dealing with autolytic, nuclease-rich mammalian tissues. However, given the recent successes in sequencing ancient RNA (aRNA) from various sources including plants and animals, we suspect that these assumptions may be incorrect or exaggerated. To challenge the underlying dogma, we generated shotgun RNA data from sources that might normally be dismissed for such study. Here, we present aRNA data generated from two historical wolf skins, and permafrost-preserved liver tissue of a 14,300-year-old Pleistocene canid. Not only is the latter the oldest RNA ever to be sequenced, but it also shows evidence of biologically relevant tissue specificity and close similarity to equivalent data derived from modern-day control tissue. Other hallmarks of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data such as exon-exon junction presence and high endogenous ribosomal RNA (rRNA) content confirms our data's authenticity. By performing independent technical library replicates using two high-throughput sequencing platforms, we show not only that aRNA can survive for extended periods in mammalian tissues but also that it has potential for tissue identification. aRNA also has possible further potential, such as identifying in vivo genome activity and adaptation, when sequenced using this technology.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.