section_path: Research/DNA sequencing
section_name: DNA sequencing
paragraph_text: DNA sequencing
  
  A draft whole genome sequencing of the thylacine was produced by Feigin et al. (2017) using the DNA extracted from an ethanol-preserved pouch of a young specimen provided by Museums Victoria. The neonatal development of the thylacine was also reconstructed from preserved pouch young specimens from several museum collections. Researchers used the genome to study aspects of the thylacine's evolution and natural history, including the genetic basis of its convergence with canids, clarifying its evolutionary relationships with other marsupials and examining changes in its population size over time.
  
  The genomic basis of the convergent evolution between the thylacine and grey wolf was further investigated in 2019, with researchers identifying many non-coding genomic regions displaying accelerated rates of evolution, a test for genetic regions evolving under positive selection. In 2021, researchers further identified a link between the convergent skull shapes of the thylacine and wolf, and the previously identified genetic candidates. It was reported that specific groups of skull bones, which develop from a common population of stem cells called neural crest cells, showed strong similarity between the thylacine and wolf and corresponded with the underlying convergent genetic candidates which influence these cells during development. In 2023, RNA was extracted from a 130-year-old thylacine specimen in Sweden; this represented the first time RNA has been extracted from an extinct species. In October 2024, a 99.9% thylacine genome was sequenced from a well-preserved skull that is estimated to be 110-year-old, allowing for the full genome of the species to be sequenced three months later.