Insights Into the Koala’s Genetic Challenge

In the NY Times Koalas have been studied by many scientists in regards to their genetic diversity. One main poit is that these animals have been said to have a very low genetic diversity. At first the thought of the 19t century fur trade could have been the reason for the declined population of koalas. When doing further research, there has been more of this low genetic diversity to have been due to from awhile into the past.

[caption id="attachment_5765" align="aligncenter" width="190" caption="Koala"][/caption]

Before the fur-trapping incidents in Australia there has been much more of a reason for the decline in these animals. Koalas have been continuously known in facing a disease which is known as koala retrovirus, also known as KoRV. This is compared closely H.I.V., which goes hand in hand with chlamydia. This has been going on for years throughout the koala species. The koalas are unable to adapt to their environment due to a gene variation which was further looked into by scientists. The scientists looked up DNA from fourteen different koala specimens. Throughout the koalas there has been a common haplotype. There is a unique sequence of mitochondrial DNA that has not been any different since the year of 1870. Modern day koalas have had the same uniqueness among them compared to the koalas in the past. The KoRV was also similarly found in the koalas from the past as well as the modern day ones. This made the assumption that there could have been a genetic drift occurred from a much longer time ago. The hunting could have definitely had an effect but another reason from the past could have been a more major reason.

[caption id="attachment_5767" align="aligncenter" width="370" caption="Koala Fur Trade (moved to Queensland at the time)"][/caption]

Hopefully more research can be done by scientists to figure out whether or not a type of gene therapy can be provided for these animals. Further investigations are being made in order to find koalas free from this virus. Possibly there can be a healthier genetic diversity among the koalas.