Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e50961. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050961. Epub 2013 Jan 11.
The characterization of biomolecules from ancient samples can shed otherwise unobtainable insights into the past. Despite the fundamental role of transcriptomal change in evolution, the potential of ancient RNA remains unexploited - perhaps due to dogma associated with the fragility of RNA. We hypothesize that seeds offer a plausible refuge for long-term RNA survival, due to the fundamental role of RNA during seed germination. Using RNA-Seq on cDNA synthesized from nucleic acid extracts, we validate this hypothesis through demonstration of partial transcriptomal recovery from two sources of ancient maize kernels. The results suggest that ancient seed transcriptomics may offer a powerful new tool with which to study plant domestication.
从古代样本中对生物分子进行特征描述可以提供以前无法获得的有关过去的见解。尽管转录组变化在进化中起着根本作用，但古代 RNA 的潜力尚未得到开发 - 这可能是由于与 RNA 的脆弱性相关的教条。我们假设，由于 RNA 在种子发芽过程中的重要作用，种子为 RNA 的长期存活提供了一个合理的避难所。通过对从两个古老的玉米籽粒来源的核酸提取物中合成的 cDNA 进行 RNA-Seq，我们通过部分转录组从两个古老的玉米籽粒中恢复的证明验证了这一假设。结果表明，古代种子转录组学可能提供了一种强大的新工具，可用于研究植物驯化。
