Researchers hope study of East Gippsland koala genes will help protect species in the future – ABC News

Researchers hope genetic samples collected from koalas in Victoria's far east will help improve their understanding of how the species deals with challenges including climate change.

Late last year, World Wildlife Fund ecologist Kita Ashman and Desley Whisson from Deakin University collected samples from 20 koalas near Gelantipy in East Gippsland.

The samples are now being processed by the University of Sydney's Koala Genome Project team,which will see how they differ from other koala populations across Australia.

The project, whichwill process samples from450 koalas, aims tobuild a genome map for the species.

The analysis will allow scientists to identify which populations include important genetic diversity orvariants, such as those which provide disease protection or adaptation to climate change.

Researchers could then use that informationto strengthen species' diversity through targeted translocations of koala populations. Those found to have important genescould be moved into areas with low genetic diversity to bolster species' resilience.

Dr Ashman teamed up with Dr Whisson to collect genetic samples from East Gippsland populations to study the koalas' makeup.

They hope to learn whether the East Gippsland koalas were affected by a crash in koala numbers that hit Victoria and South Australia about a century ago.

"We basically put koalas onto islands where they bred up to higher densities, and then a lot of populations across Victoria were re-established from those islands," Dr Ashman said.

"So we're not really sure whether or not the koalas that we sampled from East Gippsland ... went through that population crash, and were re-established from those island populations, which had really low genetic diversity.

"So that's a question mark there that we're trying tofigure out with this research."

To persuade the koalas to come down from their trees, the researchers shook a piece of tarp attached to a pole above their head.

After they were captured, the animalswere weighed, had a teeth check, and a small genetic sample was taken from the skin on their ear.

Koala Genome Project program co-investigator Carolyn Hogg described the first koala reference genome as "a giant puzzle box lid".

"Can you imagine doing a jigsaw puzzle of three-and-a-half billion jigsaw pieces without the puzzle box lid? It's very hard to do," Dr Hogg said.

"So what we call a reference genome is really the piece of information we need to know what's happening with [the] genetics of species."

The koala reference genomewas first published by her colleagues at the University of Sydney in 2018.

The collected samples will be sequenced between 30 to 60 times, whereas most wildlife genetic samples areprocessed five to seven times.

The only other projectthis thorough are Human genetic programs.

"The more times we sequence it, the better resolution we have," Dr Hogg said.

"And the better the resolution, the more information we can gain from the genetic information."

Of the 20 East Gippsland koalas sampled, 14 were females and nine were carrying joeys.

Dr Ashman said the joeys were at a "special age" where they were "really inquisitive and quite fluffy and vocalising".

She said Victoria's koala populations are quite strong and the high number of joeys could be a sign of potential overabundance.

"It's hard to say whether or not that's what's happening in Gelantipy," Dr Ashman said.

"But I suspect that there could be mounting issues of overabundance in that general area potentially."

Dr Ashman said she planned to collect more samples from Victoria for the Koala Genome Project.

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Researchers hope study of East Gippsland koala genes will help protect species in the future - ABC News