A single clonal lineage of transmissible cancer identified in two marine mussel species in South America and Europe

• Published in: eLife Vol. 8
• Main Authors: Yonemitsu, Marisa A, Giersch, Rachael M, Polo-Prieto, Maria, Hammel, Maurine, Simon, Alexis, Cremonte, Florencia, Avilés, Fernando T, Merino-Véliz, Nicolás, Burioli, Erika Av, Muttray, Annette F, Sherry, James, Reinisch, Carol, Baldwin, Susan A, Goff, Stephen P, Houssin, Maryline, Arriagada, Gloria, Vázquez, Nuria, Bierne, Nicolas, Metzger, Michael J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 05.11.2019; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publication; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Alleles; Animals; Aquatic Organisms; Biodiversity; bivalve; bivalve transmissible neoplasia; Cancer; Cancer Biology; Cancer cells; Cancer diagnosis; Cancer research; Communicable animal diseases; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Diagnosis; Disease; Diseases; DNA; Europe - epidemiology; Freight transportation; Genetic aspects; Genetic research; Genetic testing; Genomes; Investigations; Life Sciences; Microbiology and Infectious Disease; Mitochondria; Mollusks; Mortality; Mussels; Mytilidae; Mytilus; Mytilus chilensis; Mytilus edulis; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Neoplasms - pathology; Neoplasms - veterinary; Oceans; Phylogeny; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Population; Populations and Evolution; R&D; Research & development; Scientists; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Single nucleotide polymorphisms; South America - epidemiology; Species; transmissible cancer; Zoological research; South America; Europe; Canada; New York; Argentina; United States > US; France; Chile; Montpellier France; transmissible cancer; Mytilus edulis; bivalve; infectious disease; Mytilus; Mytilus chilensis; microbiology; cancer biology; bivalve transmissible neoplasia
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/elife.47788

Transmissible cancers, in which cancer cells themselves act as an infectious agent, have been identified in Tasmanian devils, dogs, and four bivalves. We investigated a disseminated neoplasia affecting geographically distant populations of two species of mussels ( in South America and in Europe). Sequencing alleles from four loci (two nuclear and two mitochondrial) provided evidence of transmissible cancer in both species. Phylogenetic analysis of cancer-associated alleles and analysis of diagnostic SNPs showed that cancers in both species likely arose in a third species of mussel ( ), but these cancer cells are independent from the previously identified transmissible cancer in from Canada. Unexpectedly, cancers from and are nearly identical, showing that the same cancer lineage affects both. Thus, a single transmissible cancer lineage has crossed into two new host species and has been transferred across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and between the Northern and Southern hemispheres.