Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) has been a major problem for the species since it was first diagnosed in the 1990s. Around a third of the population has been removed from one site during 2006-2010 in order to defeat this disease. However, the parasitical disease has survived and counteracted the deleterious mutation effects.

A new disease eradication trial was conducted by a research team, including Beata Ujvari from the University of Sydney. Ujvari said, “In this study, we focus on the evolutionary response of DFTD to a disease suppression trial. Tumors collected from devils subjected to the removal programmed showed accelerated temporal evolution of tetraploidy compared with tumors from other populations where no increase of tetraploid tumors were observed.”

The trial is a unique opportunity for discovering the long-term effects that human selection had on DFTD evolution. In order to explore these effects, the researchers collected tumor tissue samples at 11 sites during the period 2006-2011 within the affected areas of Tasmania.

Ujvari said, “Our study clearly demonstrates that DFTD tumors are able to rapidly respond to increased selection and adapt to a selective regime. The results suggest that ploidization may offer yet another pathway to which DFTD is able to adapt to the ever-changing evolutionary landscape sculptured by the devils' immune system. Our study is the first to show that anthropogenic selection may enhance cancer evolution in the wild, and it therefore cautions about what measures we employ to try to halt the spread of this devastating disease.”