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The
development will also help scientists sidestep invasive
procedures in investigating the biology of the marsupials, whose
exact numbers are not known, but which wildlife groups estimate
to range between 80,000 and 180,000.
Researchers at the Koala Genome Consortium, a team of 54
Australian and international scientists, said they sequenced
more than 3.4 billion base pairs and more than 26,000 genes in
the koala genome, which is slightly larger than the human one.
"We are in a great position now to be developing better vaccines
to treat them," said Katherine Belov, a professor of comparative
genomics at the University of Sydney.
Belov and her colleagues published their research in the journal
Nature Genetics on Monday.
Left untreated, chlamydia infections can lead to blindness,
severe bladder inflammation, infertility and death in koalas.
Treatment with antibiotics often makes it tough for koalas to
digest the eucalyptus leaves that are a staple of their diet.
"With time, we will get to really understand why some animals
recover from chlamydia and why others don't, and that will help
us develop therapies to treat koalas," Belov said.
Australia classed koalas as a "vulnerable" species in a
conservation measure in 2012.
(Reporting by Stefica Nicol Bikes; Writing by Colin Packham;
Editing by Darren Schuettler and Clarence Fernandez)
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