Sandy the desert dingo wins The World’s Most Interesting Genome Competition – The Sydney Morning Herald

AnAustralian"gift to science" has been named the winner of a global competition.

Sandy thepurebred desert dingo beat four international finalists to take first place in the World's Most Interesting Genome Competition.

Play Video Don't Play

Play Video Don't Play

Previous slide Next slide

Sandy the purebred desert dingo beat four international finalists to take first place in the World's Most Interesting Genome Competition. Vision: UNSW

Play Video Don't Play

August 2015: Former minister for social housing Brad Hazzard discusses the benefits of the Millers Point sell-off.

Play Video Don't Play

The young couple smuggled their 3-day-old baby from Nepean Hospital on Thursday, sparking a wide-scale search. Vision: Sevens News.

Play Video Don't Play

A gunman is on the run after shooting a 15-year-old boy in the head at his home in Glenfield on Friday morning. Vision: Seven News.

Play Video Don't Play

Police locate the body of missing Sydney bushwalker, Shazia Edah-Tally, at the bottom of a cliff in the Royal National Park.

Play Video Don't Play

Property developer Ron Medich had pleaded not guilty to ordering the contract killing of his former business partner Michael McGurk in 2009. Fairfax reporter Kate McClymont takes a look back at the murder trial.

Play Video Don't Play

Police uncover extensive CTP greenslip fraud as they arrest a 31 year old man in Sydney.

Sandy the purebred desert dingo beat four international finalists to take first place in the World's Most Interesting Genome Competition. Vision: UNSW

The win will give Australian scientists the opportunity to decode her DNAand test a hypothesis raised by Charles Darwin almost 150 years ago.

The public determined the winner of the annual competition.Sandy edged out a TemplePitvipersnake, a solar-powered sea slug, an explosive bombardier beetleand a pink pigeon to claim 41 per cent of votes. Up for grabs was thePacific BiosciencesSMRTGrant, whichenables sequencing of thecomplete genome of an important animal or plant.

The proposal to study Sandy's DNAwas led by Professor Bill Ballard from the University of NSW, with Professor Claire Wade of the University of Sydney, Dr Richard Melvin of UNSW, Dr RobertZammitof the Vineyard Veterinary Hospital and Dr AndreMinocheof the Garvan Institute of Medical Research also part of the project.

The sequencing will be carriedout at the Universityof Arizona.

"We are thrilled that our bid to have Sandy's DNA sequenced captured the public's imagination," Professor Ballard, from UNSW'sSchool of Biotechnology andBiomolecularSciences, said.

Professor Ballard has previously saidDarwintheorisedthat there are two stepsto the process of domestication:unconscious selection, as a result of non-intentional human influences, and artificial selection, through deliberate human activities such as breeding.

Sequencing Sandy's DNA will allow scientists to examine the changes in genesassociated with the process of domestication.

"Sandy is truly agift to science," Professor Ballard said. "As a rare, wild-born pure dingo, she provides a unique case study. Pure dingoes are intermediate between wild wolves and domestic dogs, with a range of non-domesticated traits. So sequencing Sandy's genome will help pinpoint some of the genes for temperament and behaviour that underlie the transition from wild animals to perfect pets."

Professor Ballard added that "learning more about dingo genetics will help efforts to conserve these wonderful Australian animals, through the development of improved tests for dingo purity".

Sandy and her siblings, Eggie and Didi, were three weeks old when they were found motherless near the Strzelecki Trackin central Australia in2014 by Barry and Lyn Eggleton, who raised the pups themselves.

Purebred desert dingoes are increasingly rare in Australia as the native animalsinterbreed with wild and domesticdogs andare targeted as pests by landholders.

Scientists at the UNSW'sRamaciotti Centre for Genomics haveworked on the genomes of other important native species including the koala, the Tasmanian devil, the wombat, the platypus, the Queensland fruit fly and the Wollemi Pine.

"We're very proud of UNSW's history of contribution to genomics and we are delighted that Sandy's genome will now be sequenced as the prize for winning this competition," UNSW molecular biologist and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), Professor Merlin Crossley, said.

"Australia has so many interesting animals to sequence and the results enhance our understanding of evolution and biology and help improve agriculture and pest management."

Read more:
Sandy the desert dingo wins The World's Most Interesting Genome Competition - The Sydney Morning Herald