The great mammoths of the Pleistocene had "antifreeze" blood, according to a study published in Nature Genetics .
To reach this conclusion, scientists have sequenced the hemoglobin genes from three 10,000-year-old Siberian mammoths that were preserved in permafrost, the permanent ice sheet located at the surface levels of the soil in the very cold regions, like the poles.
Hemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells that is responsible for the circulation of oxygen through the blood, collecting it in the lungs and transporting it to the tissues. The analysis showed that in these prehistoric animals, hemoglobin had undergone a series of mutations that allowed it to release oxygen even at very low temperatures , a capacity that is normally inhibited when thermometers drop below zero degrees.
Was it like traveling back in time and taking a blood sample from a mammoth? says Kevin Campbell, co-author of the study and researcher at the University of Manitoba (Canada) According to his colleague Alan Cooper, director of the Australian DNA Center at the University of Adelaide, it has been very significant to be able to " bring back a complex protein of a species extinct back to life and discover important biochemical changes not found in any living species. "
