Primary Industries and Water Minister David Llewellyn has congratulated researchers from five institutions around the country who have helped further the understanding of the facial tumour disease affecting wild Tasmanian devils.

Primary Industries and Water Minister David Llewellyn has congratulated researchers from five institutions around the country who have helped further the understanding of the facial tumour disease affecting wild Tasmanian devils.

Mr Llewellyn said the latest research, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has provided further evidence of the low genetic diversity of Tasmanian devils being a key factor in the transmission of the disease.

"The real reward out of this research is seeing the success of the collaborative partnerships that have been formed within the scientific community," Mr Llewellyn said.

"The research brought together scientific staff from Sydney University, Tasmania's Menzies Research Institute, the Department of Primary Industries and Water, Australian Museum and Macquarie University in NSW.

"The research undertaken by the team has provided further evidence from work earlier undertaken by DPIW researchers that the cancer was being directly transmitted between animals."

"It is also further evidence of research undertaken into the origin of the cancer cells involved that indicated a genetic cause to the disease."

Menzies Research Institute Associate Professor Immunology Greg Woods said the research took understanding of the cancer further because of the investigations into the immune systems of the Tasmanian devils.

"Our research had indicated that certainly the immune system of the devils was operating but for some reason they weren't responding to these invading cancer cells," he said.

"The research found that the key reason for this was there was a loss of genetic diversity in the key immune genes - known as the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC).

"What this means is that there is such a lack of genetic diversity among infected Tasmanian devils and the invading cancer cells, that the immune system does not register the tumour as an invading cancer cell."

Associate Professor Woods said the research was significant as it provided further understanding of the disease which could further assist development of ongoing management actions.

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