A new study from researchers at UMass Medical School and the University of Queensland in Australia identifies a never-before-seen type of immune response in an animal already known for being unique: the koala bear. Koalas use a novel genetic defense system to fight off infection through retroviruses, a system identified when scientists focused on KoRV-A, a retrovirus sweeping through the koala population of Australia. This novel genetic response controls the production of the virus in the koala's germline, a previously undescribed mechanism comparable to the innate immune response well-known in mammals, and a discovery that sheds new light on the...
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