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The devil in more detail: Eco-evolutionary genomics of Tasmanian devil persistence despite range-wide spread of a fatal, transmissible cancer

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) pose one of the greatest threats to human and wildlife health. A remarkable example of EIDs are two transmissible cancers that threaten populations of the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilis harrisii), Tasmania’s top predator and scavenger, with possible range-wide extinction (Fig 1A) [1,2]. Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD; Fig 1B) was discovered in 1996 to have originated from a female devil (Fig 1C) is nearly 100% lethal, and has spread from east to west throughout most of the devil’s geographic range [2]. DFT2, a second, independently evolved and male-derived lineage, was discovered in 2016 [3], which is also fatal. DFT2, relative to DFTD, has a limited geographic range, and it has not yet been determined the level of threat it poses for devil persistence. Nonetheless, devils transmit both DFTD/DFT2 via biting during common social interactions, including territoriality, competition for carrion, and male mate guarding of females [4–7]. Indeed, social network analyses show that male devils are more likely to receive potentially DFTD-transmitting bite wounds than females during the mating season [5]. Herein, we provide an update of significant research progress in this study system since our PLoS Pathogens Pearl [1] published over 6 years ago; due to the relative paucity of data on DFT2 relative to DFTD, we focus herein on DFTD unless otherwise specifically noted.

Source: PLoS Pathogens

DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1013523