Transmission of devil facial-tumour disease
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 1 February 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature
- Vol. 439 (7076) , 549
- https://doi.org/10.1038/439549a
Abstract
The Tasmanian devil, a large carnivorous Australian marsupial, is under threat from a widespread fatal disease in which a malignant oral–facial tumour obstructs the animal's ability to feed1. Here we show that the chromosomes in these tumours have undergone a complex rearrangement that is identical for every animal studied. In light of this remarkable finding and of the known fighting behaviour of the devils2, we propose that the disease is transmitted by allograft, whereby an infectious cell line is passed directly between the animals through bites they inflict on one another.Keywords
This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- Genetic diversity and population structure of Tasmanian devils, the largest marsupial carnivoreMolecular Ecology, 2004
- Transplant tumor registry: donor related malignanciesTransplantation, 2002
- Recurrent chromosome aberrations in cancerMutation Research - Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, 2000
- Review of Canine Transmissible Venereal SarcomaVeterinary Research Communications, 2000
- Clinical significance of cytogenetic findings in solid tumorsCancer Genetics and Cytogenetics, 1997
- Accidental transplantation of bronchial carcinoma from a cadaver donor to two recipients of renal allografts.Journal of Clinical Pathology, 1981
- Characteristic chromosomal abnormalities in biopsies and lymphoid‐cell lines from patients with burkitt and non‐burkitt lymphomasInternational Journal of Cancer, 1976
- A Study of the Cytology and Karyotype of the Canine Transmissible Venereal TumourResearch in Veterinary Science, 1969