Emilio Mármol-Sánchez Emilio Mármol-Sánchez Bastian Fromm Bastian Fromm Nikolay Oskolkov Nikolay Oskolkov Zoé Pochon Zoé Pochon Marianne Dehasque Marianne Dehasque Morteza Aslanzadeh Morteza Aslanzadeh Elif Bozlak Elif Bozlak Katherine Brown Katherine Brown Tom van der Valk Tom van der Valk Panagiotis Kalogeropoulos Panagiotis Kalogeropoulos J. Camilo Chacón-Duque J. Camilo Chacón-Duque Inna Biryukova Inna Biryukova Peter D. Heintzman Peter D. Heintzman Cecilia Furugård Cecilia Furugård Valeri Plotnikov Valeri Plotnikov Albert Protopopov Albert Protopopov Björn Andersson Björn Andersson Erik Ersmark Erik Ersmark Kevin J. Peterson Kevin J. Peterson Marc R. Friedländer Marc R. Friedländer Love Dalén Love Dalén Elsevier 2026 Ancient DNA has revolutionized the study of extinct and extant organisms that lived up to 2 million years ago, enabling the reconstruction of genomes from multiple extinct species, as well as the ecosystems where they once thrived. However, current DNA sequencing techniques alone cannot directly provide insights into tissue identity, gene expression dynamics, or transcriptional regulation, as these are encoded in the RNA fraction. Here, we report transcriptional profiles from 10 Late Pleistocene woolly mammoths. One of these, dated to be ∼39,000 years old, yielded sufficient detail to recover tissue-specific regulatory mechanisms and biological functions essential for skeletal muscle metabolism, representing the oldest ancient RNA sequences recorded to date. We showcase the potential to study ancient RNA molecules beyond preconceived limitations, providing an analytical framework for validating and decoding preserved transcriptomes through time. With our findings, we anticipate the emergence of integrative paleo-studies combining genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics. PDFDocument eng 2026-03-11T09:34:53.206234Z 2026 Ancient RNA Mammuthus Primigenius Woolly mammoth Ancient DNA Paleogenomics Genes microRNAs Pleistocene 9340636 b application/pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/