Taxonomic and metabolic diversity of Actinomycetota isolated from faeces of a 28,000-year-old mammoth.

Ancient environmental samples, including permafrost soils and frozen animal remains, represent an archive with microbial communities that have barely been explored. This yet unexplored microbial world is a genetic resource that may provide us with new evolutionary insights into recent genomic changes, as well as novel metabolic pathways and chemistry. Here, we describe Actinomycetota Micromonospora, Oerskovia, Saccharopolyspora, Sanguibacter and Streptomyces species were successfully revived and their genome sequences resolved.

A new discovery in the permafrost of Yakutia sheds light on the nasal horn morphology of the woolly rhinoceros.

Extinct woolly rhinoceroses were iconic representatives of the Late Pleistocene mammoth fauna of Eurasia. These animals were characterized by two huge keratinous horns. In adults, the length of the nasal horn often exceeded one meter.