Leeds Museums and Galleries has three
Tasmanian Devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) in its natural science
collections. Their DNA has been taken and looked at by a team in
Australia who are researching ‘devil facial tumour disease’ in
the hope of finding a cure for this terrible condition.
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| One of the brilliantly stuffed Tasmanian Devils at Leeds Museums and Galleries |
Leeds, a large, rich, Victorian
industrial city, spent most of the 19th century collecting scientific
material from around the world. We had a ‘purveyor of Australian
wildlife’ and acquired, amongst other things, two Devil mounts and
a skeleton.
The study, also using specimens from
Oxford, looked at genetic diversity in a group of molecules in cell
membrane proteins called the ‘major histocompatibility complex’.
Low diversity in this complex has been linked to the emergence and
spread of devil facial tumour disease. The team needed samples of
historical and ancient Devil DNA to see how diverse the populations
were before European settlement and after. (Link to the article,published in Biology Letters)
This is a great example of how museum
natural science specimens can contribute to scientific research at
the forefront of species conservation.
By Natural Sciences Curator Clare Brown
clare.brown@leeds.gov.uk
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