Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Transmitochondrial Cybrid Generation Using Cancer Cell Lines
Published on: March 17, 2023
The Tasmanian devil transcriptome reveals Schwann cell origins of a clonally transmissible cancer
Elizabeth P Murchison1, Cesar Tovar, Arthur Hsu
1Watson School of Biological Sciences, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA. elizabeth.murchison@sanger.ac.uk
Abstract:
The Tasmanian devil, a marsupial carnivore, is endangered because of the emergence of a transmissible cancer known as devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). This fatal cancer is clonally derived and is an allograft transmitted between devils by biting. We performed a large-scale genetic analysis of DFTD with microsatellite genotyping, a mitochondrial genome analysis, and deep sequencing of the DFTD transcriptome and microRNAs. These studies confirm that DFTD is a monophyletic clonally transmissible tumor and suggest that the disease is of Schwann cell origin. On the basis of these results, we have generated a diagnostic marker for DFTD and identify a suite of genes relevant to DFTD pathology and transmission. We provide a genomic data set for the Tasmanian devil that is applicable to cancer diagnosis, disease evolution, and conservation biology.
More Related Videos
13:36Transnuclear Mice with Pre-defined T Cell Receptor Specificities Against Toxoplasma gondii Obtained Via SCNT
Published on: September 30, 2010
05:45In Vitro Establishment of a Genetically Engineered Murine Head and Neck Cancer Cell Line using an Adeno-Associated Virus-Cas9 System
Published on: January 9, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) and Cancer
RSV is a retrovirus that contains two copies of a plus-strand RNA genome. Its genome consists of four main open...
Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV) and Cancer
RSV is a retrovirus that contains two copies of a plus-strand RNA genome. Its genome consists of four main open...
Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell
Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell
Mechanisms of Retrovirus-induced Cancers
Mechanisms of Retrovirus-induced Cancers