Telomeres protect chromosomes from degradation during cellular replication. In humans, it is well-documented that excessive telomere degradation is one mechanism by which cells can become cancerous. Increasing evidence from wildlife studies suggests that telomere length is positively correlated with survival and health and negatively correlated with disease infection intensity. The recently emerged devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) has led to dramatic and rapid population declines of the Tasmanian devil throughout its geographic range. Here, we tested the hypothesis that susceptibility to DFTD is negatively correlated with telomere length in devils across three populations with different infection histories. Our findings suggest telomere length is correlated with DFTD resistance in three ways. First, devils from a population with the slowest recorded increase in DFTD prevalence (West Pencil Pine) have significantly longer telomeres than those from two populations with rapid and exponential increases in prevalence (Freycinet and Narawantapu). Second, using extensive mark-recapture data obtained from a long-term demographic study, we found that individuals with relatively long telomeres tend to be infected at a significantly later age than those with shorter telomeres. Third, a hazard model showed devils with longer telomeres tended to become infected at a lower rate than those with shorter telomeres. This research provides a rare study of telomere length variation and its association with disease in a wildlife population. Our results suggest that telomere length may be a reliable marker of susceptibility to DFTD and assist with future management of this endangered species.

端粒在细胞复制过程中保护染色体免于降解。在人类中，有充分证据表明，端粒过度降解是细胞癌变的一种机制。来自野生动物研究的越来越多的证据表明，端粒长度与生存和健康呈正相关，与疾病感染强度呈负相关。最近出现的袋獾面部肿瘤病 (DFTD) 导致塔斯马尼亚袋獾在其整个地理范围内的数量急剧下降。在这里，我们测试了以下假设，即对 DFTD 的易感性与具有不同感染历史的三个种群的恶魔的端粒长度呈负相关。我们的研究结果表明，端粒长度在三个方面与 DFTD 抗性相关。第一的，来自 DFTD 流行率记录增长最慢的种群（西铅笔松）的魔鬼的端粒明显长于流行率迅速呈指数增长的两个种群（Freycinet 和 Narawantapu）。其次，使用从长期人口统计研究中获得的大量标记重获数据，我们发现端粒相对较长的个体比端粒较短的个体感染的年龄要晚得多。第三，危害模型显示，端粒较长的恶魔比端粒较短的恶魔感染率更低。这项研究提供了一项罕见的关于端粒长度变异及其与野生动物种群疾病关联的研究。