Transmissible cancer and longitudinal telomere dynamics in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii).

ABSTRACT: A plethora of intrinsic and environmental factors have been shown to influence the length of telomeres, the protector of chromosome ends. Despite the growing interest in infection-telomere interactions, there is very limited knowledge on how transmissible cancers influence telomere maintenance. An emblematic example of transmissible cancer occurs in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), whose populations have been dramatically reduced by infectious cancer cells. To investigate associations between telomere dynamics and the transmissible cancer, we used longitudinal data from a Tasmanian devil population that has been exposed to the disease for over 15 years. We detected substantial temporal variation in individual telomere length (TL), and a positive significant association between T

SUBMITTER: Madsen T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10091798 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature