Perdana, Peneliti Berhasil Menemukan RNA Harimau Tasmania Yang Punah

Tasmania tiger. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The Tasmania tiger, a bagging carnivorous animal the size of a dog that once lived in Australia and its surrounding islands, is apex predator that hunts downELs and other prey that are extinct because of humans.

Despite being extinct, scientists continue to study the animal. Last week, researchers said they managed to find RNA, the genetic material present in all living cells that has a structural resemblance to DNA, from dry skin and Tasmania tiger muscles stored since 1891 in a museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

Scientists in recent years have extracted DNA from ancient animals and plants, some of whom are over 2 million years old. But this research marks the first time RNA was discovered from an extinct species.

Although not the focus of this research, the ability to extract, sort and analyze old RNAs can enhance the efforts of other scientists to recreate extinct species. Recovering RNA from old viruses can also help explain the causes of the pandemic in the past.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid), biomolecular cousins, are fundamental molecules in cell biology.

DNA is a double threaded molecule containing the genetic code of an organism, carrying a gene that gives rise to all living things. While RNA is a single stringy molecule that carries genetic information it receives from DNA and practices this information. RNA synthesizes a large number of proteins that organisms need to live and work to regulate cell metabolism.

"RNA sequencing gives you an overview of true biology and metabolic regulation that occurred in Tasmanian cells and tiger networks before they went extinct," said Genetics and bioinformatics expert Emilio M wayrmol Smenchez of the Center for Palaeogenetics and SciLifeLab in Sweden who led the study published in the journal 'Genome Research'.

"If we want to understand which species are extinct, we need to understand the complement to what genes they have and also what those genes do and which genes are active," said genetics expert and study co-author Marc Friedligner of Stockholm University and SciLifeLab.

There are questions about how long RNA can last in such conditions room temperature in the cupboard where these remains are stored. It is known that the remains of the body at the Swedish Natural History Museum are in a semi-communification state, with preserved skin, muscles and bones but missing organs.

"Most researchers think that RNA will only last in a very short time, such as days or weeks, at room temperature. This may be true if the sample is wet or humid. But that's not the case if it's dried," said evolutionary genetics expert Love Dalern of the Paleogenetics Center.

It is known that the arrival of humans in Australia about 50,000 years ago resulted in the massive loss of the Tasmania tiger population.

The arrival of European colonialists in the 18th century brought disaster to the remaining population concentrated on the island of Tasmania, with massive hunting of them after being declared a threat to livestock. The last Tasmania tiger known to have died at the Tasmania zoo in 1936.

"The story of the Tasmania tiger's death is one of the most documented extinction events and has been proven to be caused by human activity. Unfortunately, the Tasmania tiger was declared protected just two months before the last known individual died in captivity, a late thing to save them from extinction," explained M