Apr. 10,
2013 — The "holy grail" for understanding how and why koalas respond
to infectious diseases has been uncovered in an Australian-led, world-first
genome mapping project.
The joint
undertaking between QUT and The Australian Museum has unearthed a wealth of
data, including the koala interferon gamma (IFN-g) gene -- a chemical messenger
that plays a key role in the iconic marsupial's defence against cancer, viruses
and intracellular bacteria.
Professor
Peter Timms, from QUT's Institue of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI),
said the IFN-g gene was the key to finding a cure for diseases such as
Chlamydia and Koala Retrovirus (KoRV), currently threatening the vulnerable
species.
"We know
koalas are infected with various strains of Chlamydia, but we do not know why
some animals go on to get severe clinical disease and some do not,"
Professor Timms said.
"We also
know that genes such as IFN-g are very important for controlling chlamydial
infections in humans and other animals. Identifying these in the koala will be
a major step forward in understanding and controlling diseases in this species.
"
The research
team -- made up of Professor Timms, Dr Adam Polkinghorne, Dr Ana Pavasovic and
Dr Peter Prentis from QUT; The Australian Museum; veterinarians from Australia
Zoo and the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital; and bioinformaticians from
Ramaciotti Centre and UNSW -- have sequenced the complete transcriptome from
several koala tissues.
Dr
Polkinghorne from QUT's School
of Biomedical Sciences
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