UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., June 27 (UPI) -- The complete genome of the Tasmanian Devil has been sequenced and analyzed, a step intended to prevent extinction of the animal, Australian scientists say.
Scientists in Australia, the United States and Denmark sequenced the genome from a healthy animal and from one that died of a contagious animal cancer knows as Devil Facial Tumor Disease, which threatens the species.
The team, led by Stephan Schuster, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University, says the unusual cancer was observed on the east coast of Australia's Tasmania island state 15 years ago and since has spread rapidly westward, threatening the marsupials with extinction.
"The disease is like nothing we know in humans or in virtually any other animal," Schuster said. "It acts like a virus but it actually is spread by a whole cancerous cell that arose in one individual several decades ago.
"This malignant cell is transferred directly from one individual to another through biting, mating or even touching," he said. "Just imagine a human cancer that spread through a handshake. It would eradicate our species very quickly."
Scientists say the sequenced genomes have been used to develop a theoretical model to predict which individuals would need to be kept in captivity to maximize chances of preserving enough genetic diversity for the species to survive. If a number of healthy cancer-free Tasmanian devils were kept in zoos and other facilities in "protective custody" until the tumor ran its course and disappeared in the wild, researchers said, then the captive animals could be released back into their former habitat and the population could begin to grow anew.
