Emergence, transmission and evolution of Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease

塔斯马尼亚恶魔面部肿瘤疾病的出现、传播和演变

• 批准号: 1316549
• 负责人: Andrew Storfer
• 金额: $ 225万
• 依托单位: Washington State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-15 至 2019-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1316549&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Emergence; transmission; evolution; Tasmanian; devil

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are considered a grand challenge in the environmental sciences for the 21st century because of their effects on human, wildlife and agricultural health. Infectious diseases are now listed as the sixth leading cause of species extinctions, and an EID has caused the endangerment of the iconic Tasmanian devil. Across Tasmania, devil populations are being decimated by an infectious cancer called Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease. Although only a few infectious cancers are documented, this cancer shares properties with human cancers. This study will investigate how transmission is related to heterogeneity in contacts and genomic variation in host and/and or tumor within populations. Genetic studies may reveal underlying causes of devil facial tumor longevity, perhaps providing information on cancer recurrence in humans. Further, extensive background research on devils, including thousands of samples before and after die-offs, affords the rare opportunity to study genomic interactions of an infectious agent and its host across an entire species? range. These genomic studies will shed light on the genetic basis of relative susceptibility of devils to the tumor, thereby allowing managers to choose the best individuals for captive breeding programs. In addition, knowledge of rates and direction of past tumor spread enables the unique ability to predict the precise location of future infections. In turn, devil contact network modeling and genomic studies of populations expected to become infected will facilitate the testing of predictions regarding the course of epidemics in new populations. This knowledge may help in developing responses to future human epidemics.

新发传染病是21世纪世纪环境科学面临的重大挑战，它对人类、野生动物和农业健康都有重大影响。传染病现在被列为物种灭绝的第六大原因，而EID已经导致标志性的塔斯马尼亚魔鬼濒临灭绝。在整个塔斯马尼亚州，魔鬼的数量正在被一种叫做塔斯马尼亚魔鬼面部肿瘤病的传染性癌症所毁灭。虽然只有少数传染性癌症被记录在案，但这种癌症与人类癌症具有相同的特性。本研究将研究传播如何与接触者的异质性以及人群中宿主和/或肿瘤的基因组变异相关。遗传学研究可能揭示魔鬼面部肿瘤长寿的根本原因，也许提供人类癌症复发的信息。此外，对魔鬼的广泛背景研究，包括死亡前后的数千个样本，为研究整个物种中感染因子及其宿主的基因组相互作用提供了难得的机会。范围这些基因组研究将揭示魔鬼对肿瘤相对易感性的遗传基础，从而使管理人员能够选择最佳个体进行圈养繁殖计划。此外，了解过去肿瘤扩散的速度和方向，能够预测未来感染的精确位置。反过来，魔鬼接触网络建模和对预期受感染人群的基因组研究将有助于测试对新人群流行病进程的预测。这些知识可能有助于制定应对未来人类流行病的对策。