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SUMMARY:What’s fishy in New England: Melanoma in a benthic catfish speci
 es represents a new transmissible cancer - Dr. Julie Dragon\, Professor of
  Microbiology and Molecular Genetics\, University of Vermont
DTSTART:20251209T150000Z
DTEND:20251209T160000Z
UID:TALK241171@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Fiona Roby
DESCRIPTION:Since 2012\, brown bullheads (Ameiurus nebulosus\, a type of c
 atfish) in a lake spanning Vermont\, USA and Quebec\, Canada have shown a 
 high rate of melanomas\, suggesting a causal contaminant or contagion. We 
 tested the hypothesis that this affliction represents a clonally transmiss
 ible cancer\, a rare phenomenon in which cancer cells themselves spread be
 tween individuals\, behaving more like parasites than conventional tumors.
  Whole genome sequencing of tumor and matched healthy host tissues reveale
 d that tumor mitochondrial and nuclear genomes are more closely related to
  each other than to their hosts or unaffected fish. Hundreds of thousands 
 of genetic variants are shared among tumor samples but absent from host fi
 sh\, vastly exceeding levels seen in conventional cancers. These findings 
 indicate that melanoma in these brown bullheads represents the fourth docu
 mented type of naturally occurring transmissible cancer in animals\, after
  Tasmanian devils\, dogs\, and bivalve species. This raises important ques
 tions about the cancer's origin\, mode of transmission\, and long-term imp
 act on fish populations.\n\nZoom Link for remote viewing:\nhttps://cam-ac-
 uk.zoom.us/j/82341273691?pwd=ni9zayzBiZVaFpLslZCZcIwyhYa3u0.1\n\nMeeting I
 D: 823 4127 3691\nPasscode: 372766\n
LOCATION:LT2\, Department of Veterinary Medicine
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