Low major histocompatibility complex diversity in the Tasmanian devil predates European settlement and may explain susceptibility to disease epidemics
Open accessAbstract
The Tasmanian devil ( Sarcophilus harrisii ) is at risk of extinction owing to the emergence of a contagious cancer known as devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). The emergence and spread of DFTD has been linked to low genetic diversity in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). We examined MHC diversity in historical and ancient devils to determine whether loss of diversity is recent or predates European settlement in Australia. Our results reveal no additional diversity in historical Tasmanian samples. Mainland devils had common modern variants plus six new variants that are highly similar to existing alleles. We conclude that low MHC diversity has been a feature of devil populations since at least the Mid-Holocene and could explain their tumultuous history of population crashes.
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Muskox genetic diversity is lower than that of the Tasmanian devil and the cheetah.
“Muskox genetic diversity is lower than two mammalian species under threat that have undergo recent genetic bottlenecks, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)66 and the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)67.”
From Chromosomal-level reference genome assembly of muskox (Ovibos moschatus) from Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic, a resource for conservation genomics (2024) · cites this paper as [66]
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“Muskox genetic diversity is lower than two mammalian species under threat that have undergo recent genetic bottlenecks, the Tasmanian devil ( Sarcophilus harrisii ) 66 and the cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) 67 .”
Background
- Authors
- Morris, K., Austin, J. J., & Belov, K.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Museums Victoria (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Belov, Katherine
- Venue
- Biology Letters
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2013-02-23
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 20120900
- ISSN
- 1744-9561 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-957X
- PMC
- PMC3565505
- OpenAlex
- W2154385432
- Cited by
- 84
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 2.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Biology Letters (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Veterinary Oncology Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Keywords
- Tasmanian devil, major histocompatibility complex, MHC diversity, devil facial tumour disease, contagious cancer, ancient DNA, population decline, disease susceptibility, extinction risk, Holocene
- MeSH terms
- Alleles, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Australia, Cloning, Molecular, Facial Neoplasms, Fossils, Genotype, Major Histocompatibility Complex, Marsupialia, Phylogeny, Time Factors, Genetic Variation, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Sequence Alignment, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Endangered Species
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