摘要：科研人员已经测出了袋獾的基因组。袋獾是全世界现存最大的肉食有袋动物，它们的种群受到一种传染性的面部肿瘤病的威胁。在很大程度上，保护越来越少的袋獾（Sarcophilus harrisii）的举措重点放在了维持一群人工养殖的袋獾，然后在这种致命的癌症（首次报告是在1996年）在野外自然发展消失后把它们释放到它们的自然栖息地中。为了帮助改善这些保护举措，Stephan C. Schuster及其同事对来自塔斯马尼亚西北和东南（澳大利亚的这个岛州的相距最远的点）的两只袋獾Cedric 和Spirit进行了全基因组分析。此外，这组作者还对当前的和博物馆保存的袋獾组织样本进行了线粒体和核基因组的测序，结果发现当前袋獾遗传多样性低，可能早于这种传染性癌症的暴发至少一个世纪。这组作者说，这些发现提示来自整个塔斯马尼亚的袋獾必须被纳入到人工养殖项目中来，从而保存并增加它们的遗传多样性。它们说，这样一种在遗传上有特色的养殖群体有可能帮助培育出更抗病的袋獾，并且实现对这种濒危物种的保护。此外，这些基因组数据可能帮助解释为什么某些袋獾能够抵抗这种面部肿瘤病的遗传基础。
袋獾面部肿瘤病
生物探索推荐英文原文摘要：
Genetic diversity and population structure of the endangered marsupial Sarcophilus harrisii (Tasmanian devil)
Abstract
The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is threatened with extinction because of a contagious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease. The inability to mount an immune response and to reject these tumors might be caused by a lack of genetic diversity within a dwindling population. Here we report a whole-genome analysis of two animals originating from extreme northwest and southeast Tasmania, the maximal geographic spread, together with the genome from a tumor taken from one of them. A 3.3-Gb de novo assembly of the sequence data from two complementary next-generation sequencing platforms was used to identify 1 million polymorphic genomic positions, roughly one-quarter of the number observed between two genetically distant human genomes. Analysis of 14 complete mitochondrial genomes from current and museum specimens, as well as mitochondrial and nuclear SNP markers in 175 animals, suggests that the observed low genetic diversity in today's population preceded the Devil Facial Tumor Disease disease outbreak by at least 100 y. Using a genetically characterized breeding stock based on the genome sequence will enable preservation of the extant genetic diversity in future Tasmanian devil populations.
