A bizarre facial cancer threatening to wipe out the Tasmanian devil probably evolved from a single female about 16 years ago, new scans of the cancer reveal. The scans are also helping to identify gene mutations found in the cancer but not healthy tissue, which might provide targets for a vaccine to rescue the endangered species.

Devil facial tumour disease is unusual in that the cancer cells themselves act as infectious agents. The cells spread between animals through biting during fights or mating. A vaccine could prime uninfected animals against the cancer if they are subsequently bitten.

“Now we know which genes are mutated, we can begin assessing which ones might be good antigens for a vaccine,” says Elizabeth Murchison of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK, who led the team.