Tag: Tasmanian Devils

The evolution of two transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils

Tasmanian devils have spawned two transmissible cancer lineages, named devil facial tumour 1 (DFT1) and devil facial tumour 2 (DFT2). We investigated the genetic diversity and evolution of these clones by analysing 78 DFT1 and 41 DFT2 genomes relative to a newly assembled, chromosome-level reference. Time-resolved phylogenetic trees reveal that […]

Tasmanian devils’ genetic diversity found to be robust

Research published recently in the journal iScience has found genetic diversity in insurance populations of Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) is just as robust as it is in wild populations and confirms the effectiveness of captive breeding and management strategies. The study, led by researchers from the University of Sydney’s Australasian Wildlife Genomics […]