Herbaria provide a valuable resource for obtaining informative mRNA

Transcriptomics and Molecular Biology

This preprint investigates the utility of herbarium specimens for mRNA transcriptomics, a field traditionally reliant on DNA. While acknowledging the established paradigm of RNA instability, the authors challenge the assumption that herbarium specimens are unsuitable for RNA-based studies. By successfully assembling transcriptomes from archival plant specimens and validating the function of a recovered immune receptor, the work operates within the existing paradigm of molecular biology and transcriptomics but extends its application to a previously underutilized resource. This represents an expansion of normal science by demonstrating new techniques and applications within an accepted framework, rather than proposing a fundamental shift in understanding or challenging existing theoretical models. While the findings have the potential to open new avenues of research in historical transcriptomics, they do so by building upon the existing paradigm rather than replacing it. Therefore, a classification of 'Normal Science' accurately reflects the preprint's contribution.