Most complete Tasmanian tiger genome yet pieced together from 110-year-old pickled head

Scientists have assembled the most complete Tasmanian tiger genome to date from a century-old pickled head, providing a full DNA blueprint to potentially bring the extinct species back to life.

The breakthrough — one of several new advances in Tasmanian tiger de-extinction efforts spearheaded by the company Colossal Biosciences — was made possible thanks to a 110-year-old head that was skinned and preserved in ethanol. The exceptional preservation of this specimen enabled researchers to piece together most of its DNA sequence, as well as strands of RNA (a molecule that is structurally similar to DNA but has only one strand) that show which genes were active in various tissues when the animal died.

Until now, many experts believed it was impossible to reconstruct a full genome from historic samples, said Andrew Pask, a professor of genetics and developmental biology at the University of Melbourne in Australia whose team helped assemble the Tasmanian tiger genome. Turns out, “you absolutely can get a phenomenal genome from old samples,” he told Live Science in an email.

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