Wooly mammoth's DNA yields haemoglobin that released oxygen at low temperatures

Mammoths had 'anti-freeze blood', gene study finds

The mammoth DNA sequences were converted into RNA (a molecule similar to DNA which is central to the production of proteins) and inserted into E. coli bacteria.

The bacteria faithfully manufactured the mammoth protein.

"The resulting haemoglobin molecules are no different than 'going back in time' and taking a blood sample from a real mammoth," said co-author Kevin Campbell, from the University of Manitoba in Canada.

Scientists then tested the "revived" mammoth proteins and found three distinctive changes in the haemoglobin sequence allowed mammoth blood to deliver oxygen to cells even at very low temperatures.

This is something the haemoglobin in living elephants cannot do.