Tasmanian devil (Wikimedia Commons)
Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, U.K. and life science instrumentation company Illumina Inc. in San Diego, California have created a draft genome sequence for the endangered Tasmanian devil and will use these results to find genetic mutations in the transmissible cancer that is ravaging its population.
The findings, say the Wellcome Trust and Illumina, open the door for new research to pick out those specific mutations that drive the cancer and support other ongoing work to trace the spread of disease and encourage the development of preclinical tests, conservation strategies, and disease therapies.
The Tasmanian devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial and is native to the island of Tasmania, off the southern coast of Australia. The species is at risk of extinction in the wild due to a transmissible facial cancer, which is spread between devils by the transfer of cancer cells by biting.
The cancerous cells from the first devil then colonize the bitten animal, which usually dies within months of the appearance of symptoms. In the 14 years since the disease was first observed, the devil population has declined by more than 80 per cent.
Sanger Institute researcher Elizabeth Murchison announced the results at a conference in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
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