Visayan Spotted Deer “instruction manual”

What would an instruction manual for you look like? An answer is truly inside of us.

For my latest art, I decided to highlight the accomplishments of Ilonggo scientists in Iloilo and Dumaguete. They are the first to sequence DNA of an endangered endemic species in the Philippines, specifically the Visayan Spotted Deer.

Locally known as usa, no more than a thousand of them exist in the wild. They once lived on several islands including Cebu, Guimaras, Masbate, Negros, and Panay. Today they can only found on the latter two islands in small clusters, in the remaining forests there.

By sequencing their DNA, conservationists can now analyze it to figure out ways to save them. What diseases are usa susceptible to? How are they different or similar to deer species thriving on other islands or countries? In a way, the DNA is an instruction manual for the species. And we’re no different.

What diseases am I most at risk for? What “invisible powers” do I have – maybe I have a rare trait in my muscle cells that makes me a better swimmer than most? I can tell you without looking at my DNA that this is not the case.

As of today it costs about $1,000 to sequence your entire genome. Services like 23andMe do a partial service called genotyping, where they only look at certain parts of your DNA without sequencing the entire thing. They can do this for $120, but risks behind privacy and what companies can do with your DNA data are abound.

For now, we can only hope that any analysis and usage of DNA will be used for good. So far in the conservation world there have been some success. European ash trees began dying in the mid-90’s. Genome sequencing was applied to not only determine causes for the declines, but also to determine which trees were least affected by the cause – which could then help with replenishing new forests.

The adorable ground-dwelling owl parrot of New Zealand, the kākāpō, has a new lease in life thanks to sequencing. Their DNA is now helping conservationists determine why these unique birds endemic to New Zealand suffer from “disease and low reproductive output.”

Will the “instructions” for saving the Visayan Spotted Deer actually help it in the end? I’m actually excited to see what local scientists can achieve with such data.

I wonder though how much it costs to generate an instruction manual for a healthy people and planet. At the risk of sounding corny, I think the answer to that is inside of us too. That’s definitely something worth sequencing.

References:

• MCF Javier et al., 2025. Draft genome of the endangered visayan spotted deer (Rusa alfredi), a Philippine endemic species. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389309492_Draft_genome_of_the_endangered_visayan_spotted_deer_Rusa_alfredi_a_Philippine_endemic_species
• University of the Philippines Visayas’s Facebook post, February 27, 2025: https://www.facebook.com/U.P.Visayas.Official/posts/pfbid0PApPE19p7CA3C7fDjdnCn4YC8fwcT7GgHqq2viMo9k4Rt1NpZzqzHV2uFaM41v7Yl
• University of Otago 2023. Saving species from extinction – high-quality kākāpō population sequencing provides breakthrough in understanding key conservation genetics. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/999871
• K Theissinger et al., 2023. How genomics can help biodiversity conservation. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952523000203